So the baby with the weird feathers was getting a bit worse, and I think it was starting to twist the wing in a wrong way, so I did a search and I saw this simple way to wrap it. It's the first time I do it and maybe it's not perfect, but I think it will be better than doing nothing. Let me know your opinions!
This is the first time I rescued an adult duck. I'm going to keep it separate for now. I think his nails are a bit long, and it doesn't look too waterproof. Apart from that, looks healthy. Just old, I guess. He's been living alone in a small enclosure for a while, probably fed chicken food. He had a bath and all. Let's see.
Any advice is welcome, so feel free to share your expertise ☺️
Here they are, growing like weeds. The water was clean a moment ago. I swear 😂 and I use different containers because I like giving them different depths so they can choose. Apparently the big one is becoming popular...
I wanted to ask your opinion because I don't really have much experience growing ducklings and these are the first Muscovy I have. They're eating special duck starter food and they're going to change to growth food as soon as it arrives. They also eat vegetable treats sometimes (peas and lettuce) and wander outside for a while everyday.
Photos 1, 2 and 3 are the same duckling. 4 is a group photo.
The last photo is the food, if someone's interested. It's a French brand. There's no specific food for ducks in Spain 😅
Well, Coco is doing much better. She's back with the flock now, and I made this little video last night after we came back from the vet. She was so happy to touch ground again hahaha I'll post a better video soon ☺️ (the water was clean right before the video! Hahaha)
So here she is, behaving like normal again, destroying everything to build her nest everyday haha She's eating duck food now, so she's as hungry as she used to, and she's been laying eggs since the first day, my poor little baby.
We have an appointment at the vet tomorrow, for checking on her wound and the stitches, and to see Mini Pip as well. They're both doing really well ☺️
So I took Mini Pip to the vet last week (all the Pips went as emotional support too) and it had an RX, and they saw someone in its lungs. It was hard to tell, so the vet decided to try antibiotics and anti-inflammatory, all baby proof. I've been giving it for 3 days and it seems like it's breathing much better now! Still small, but eating and running and joining the rest of the Pips on their adventures...
Their new thing is eating food from the top of the box. Much cooler than the food bowl! Obviously!
(Mini Pip is the one on the left... Just in case)
Here she is. She was scared and stressed at first, but tonight seems like she's a bit calmer. She wasn't that grumpy when I gave her the meds, and she's been eating a little bit more. I think she's starting to understand that I'm trying to help her.
I think her wound is healing fine too. She was limp at first because she had stitches from the back to one thigh, but she's been walking much better today ☺️
I just want to say that I'm really really sorry. My flock was out. They free range during the day, and I always put them in their run before the sunset. I came home a little late and Ashley was missing. Not a single feather. That was yesterday. Today I've been looking for her all day, searching between the tall grass, under the branches... Nothing. I let the others out to see if maybe she could hear them and make a sound or something. After lunch, I decided to put them in their run early because I was concerned, so I cleaned their pool, I prepared the food and went in the house to get a bowl of peas. Then I heard noises and went quickly to see what was going on and there it was. A skinny fox right there in the middle of the day. Coco got injured (an ugly wound, she got lots of stitches), the others are fine, but Ashley... I don't know what happened to her.
I feel so terribly guilty. I'm always careful, and this happened because I made a mistake. I think I'm still in shock. I just wanted to share it here because it's the only place where I think someone will understand.
Ashley, I've failed you. I'm really sorry.
The smallest one started breathing weird yesterday. I thought maybe it was the temperature or it was tired (I noticed last night). I put a thermometer inside the box where they have the heating mat and it's like 30 degrees in the warmest part, but they have plenty of space to move if they're too hot.
I just made a small portion of food with soaked oats, a bit of boiled egg yolk and a tiny bit of sugar. Kind of a boost of energy. I let it eat a little. It's eating dry food too, and drinking water quite often. It poops fine too.
Any advice? I'm concerned that it could be an infection or something that went wrong when hatching, because it's always been smaller than the rest, and always walking slightly hunched 🥺
So this is the place I've prepared for the first weeks. What do you think? Any advice? They have heating under the box so it's warm inside. The food bowl is small but I'll get a bigger one as they grow. I just realised it's better to adjust the size as they grow. They're so sweet 🥰
So... Long story short... I'm fostering 5 muscovy ducklings 😂 I don't know how I always end up being a nanny of someone haha but I'm happy because they're the cutest thing ever 🥰 I don't have experience with muscovys, so any advice will be appreciated. There's one who seems a bit weaker but maybe it hatched the last one. We don't really know. I call that one Mini Pip