I have two 6-day old Fawn Runners that I am raising. Right now I am feeding them a 'gamebird starter' (I THINK that is what it's called; it was reccomended by a feed and supply store.) I read in a post above that you are supposed to "water" the ducks before you feed them. What exactly does that mean? Does that mean that you give them water before you give them food? I have just been giving them food and water continuously.

I have a water dish that is up to about the ducks' necks, but they keep tipping it over, and it gets all over the cage. What can I do so they do not get into it, because I know it's not good for them to be wet at such a young age.

I'd appreciate any answers! Thanks!

-- Katie (kd_dancer12@hotmail.com), April 21, 2001

Answers

Hi Katie, The ducks need a chick waterer. You'll have to get it at the feed store. I like the plastic ones in the gallon size because they are easier for me to fill and move. But, they do go through water very quickly, mainly by spraying the water all over the place. I also got a plastic/rubber feed bowl about 18 inches around which I fill up for them to swim in. They love it. I also feed the ducklings and baby chicks game bird starter. As they get bigger I give them some scratch to go along with the starter. The ducklings need the water to sort of filter the food. If you watch them, you will see that they take a bite of food and then go to the water dish and sort of slurp the water through the food. You can see by this that they need a lot of fresh water all the time. They are not like chicks which sip at the water at various times. Also, all the books say that store bought ducklings should not get wet because they don't have the protective coating which naturally born ducklings get from their mother. I have found that store bought ducklings love getting wet just like their natural cousins, but you must make sure that they are kept warm as they have no mother to keep them warm. Good luck!

-- Mary in East TN (barnwood@preferred.com), April 21, 2001.

I have 4 ducklings now and used a square pint or pint and a half plastic freezer container and they haven't tipped it. I also set their cage up on plastic yogurt containers to keep the wet and mess out of their cage.

-- T. Crockett (pbandjallen@jcn.net), April 23, 2001.

Try a smaller bowl and put a rock in it to keep them from tipping it over. Also don't fill the bowl all the way to the top only about half way full. As you know by now they love to piddle in the water and splash it out. I have 2 Indian Runners that are about 6 weeks old now and I tried to put them in my pond on Sat. and they refused to go in the water!....They think they are chickens and sat by the wire trying to get back in. I have 13 other baby ducks in another area and they couldn't wait to jump in the water. They had fun playing and diving in the water, so I don't know what the heck is wrong with the runners. I put them back in with the chicks and they are happy now. I'm sure they'll figure out soon enough they are ducks. Have fun with yours.

-- Kent in WA (kent@premier1.net), April 23, 2001.

If your ducks ever runout of food/water you should give water first because they will pack the food into the crop and then drink which causes the food to expand. I've had a bird do this, the pain the bird was in was clear to see, it recovered, but lay gaping for air several minutes. I like to use shallow flat bottom pans to hold water,like pie pans for small birds, dish pan for larger.

-- Thumper (slrldr@aol.com), April 25, 2001.

If you take a deep dish, fill it partially with fairly large pebbles (too big for the ducks to swallow) and cover it with chicken wire, the ducks can drink (their bills fit in between the wire) and the dish won't tip. It also stays cleaner since they can't climb into it.

-- Peggy (woodwardbp@hotmail.com), August 08, 2001.