Experiences With Pet Ducks
A number of years ago we had two pet ducks. These were not domestic ducks, ducklings you might find at a pet store or a home and ranch store. These were baby mallards that had been rescued when the mother had been accidentally killed. The ducklings, just a few days old and still quite fluffy, were given to us. One was a male, the other a female.
The Basics - Not having a book on caring for pet ducks, nor having any previous experience in easing pet ducks, we followed our intuition, We knew the basic essential, food, water, shelter, warmth, and security. A large cardboard box in the kitchen, lined with newspaper provided warmth, shelter, and security. Small ducklings and baby chick often spend the first several weeks of life under a heat lamp, or if wild duck, under their mother. We uses a low watt incandescent bulb as a heat source, though the ducks seems quite content just being at room temperature.
As far as food was concerned we purchased a small amount of commercial food, but relied mostly on cooked eggs and vegetable greens, especially bits of lettuce. The ducklings grew quickly and always appeared to be in the best of health.
Swimming Lesson -Near Disaster - One thing that ducklings do not require is entertainment. Yet a couple of days after we brought them home we felt they would enjoy a good swim in the kitchen sink. They took to water like the proverbial duck takes to water. Fortunately we enjoyed watching them swim around and didn't just leave them on their own. What happened, was after about 10 minutes they both started to get a little waterlogged, and were beginning having problems, first in navigating, then in remaining afloat. Had the ducklings been left to their own devices, they most certainly would have drowned. Lesson - if you get baby ducklings, don't put them in a sink or bathtub full of water and leave them alone. Baby ducklings will drown. Older ducklings will probably be all right for a good long period, but it's still best to keep an eye on them.
Ducks, Dogs, And Cats - Security? We had a dog and two cats. We had to watch the cats at first and cover the duckling's box with meshing tied down tight. After a few days the cats lost interest, although we kept careful tabs when ducks and cats were in the same room. The dog was taught that the ducklings were off limits, and obeyed the lesson well, in fact became quite attached to the tucks as they grew larger.
The ducks eventually graduated to a homemade cage, wood and chicken wire, which we placed in the utility room. They always had fresh water, though they tended to make a mess with it, and usually some vegetable greens to work on besides their regular food. As it was late spring we began to let them out in the back yard for fairly long periods. The yard was fenced in, solid grape stake fencing, so nothing could get in and the ducks could not get out. When we were working in the garden the ducks would follow us along, with the dog in tow. The ducks did not like to be touched or held, but aside from that they usually stayed very close to us.
Slug Eaters Supreme - It wasn't long before the ducks began to earn their keep, by eating slugs, which were always a problem in our garden. We had put slug bait out, which is a no-no if you have pet ducks, but no harm was apparently done, and we soon thought better of it, took away the bait, and let the ducks take care of the slugs.
Flying Lessons - We never clipped their wings and eventually they started to try flying. For several weeks they would fly a few feet, walk around, and then fly a little more, perhaps a little farther. Eventually they would fly the length of the yard, around 75 feet. The fencing was 5 feet high and they couldn't quite clear it. We didn't want to clip their wings, as they were wild ducks as far as we were concerned, and if they wanted to leave home, we'd let them do that.
Bittersweet Parting - The day finally came when they cleared the fence, though we didn't seem them doing it at the time. We hoped they might come back or pay an occasional visit, but they never did. Hopefully they found plenty of food. They were good at foraging and slugs were abundant in our area. Maybe they were programmed to head South with other ducks, maybe not.
It generally not a good idea to raise wild animals, even pet ducks, since if they leave home they may not be able to fend for themselves. It's also probably not a good idea to raise pet ducks without at least reading up on it first, but we found that loving care goes a long ways, even if we did a few things by trial and error.