Yesterday (Saturday) we picked up some ducks that a friend had rescued. Se was rescuing what ended up being around 25 chickens from someone who had kept them in a small shed type building with only scratch for feed. Along with the chickens were 3 ducks, which we agreed to take, because we love ducks.
They were so sad looking when we picked them up from my friend a day after they had gotten them. They are all Pekins, which are the beautiful all white ducks with the orange beaks. A great deal of their feathers had been plucked out, especially of the smallest one, so we have not been able to definitively sex them yet. One of the bigger ones has what looks to be drake feathers curling on their tail, so we are pretty sure we have at least one male. The smallest seems to be a female, but she also has the most feathers missing.
When we arrived yesterday they were hunkered down in their chicken tractor eating grass and resting. They looked very tired and sad. Although she was moving around some we were afraid the smallest wouldn’t make it through the night. She has a tendency to sit most of the time and when she walks it seems like she is struggling. All three were very vocal, however, which I took to be a good sign.
We brought them back home and set them up in the coop to quarantine. They devoured the food and water we gave them and had a lengthy conversation with our two other ducks before everyone settled in for the night.
This morning they seemed like different ducks. The smallest is still struggling with walking but is much better than yesterday. They are still very vocal and really enjoy eating and drinking. They are even starting to grow back a bit of fluff from where they were partially bald. Hopefully they will be fully recovered by the time they can be released from the coop. I’ll keep you updated!
