HELP!! frozen duck

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Thought i had lost another duck this morning but i found her, she is covered in ice! From her breast down, and the tips f her wings are covered in ice. she is having a hard time walking with all of this nd just what should i do for her? bring her in and dunk her in a warm tub?? with our weather is isn't going to melt off anytime soon

-- Susan (dsowen@tds.net), February 27, 2002

Answers

Susan, yes, it wouldn't hurt to de-ice her if she doesn't have open water she can get into on her own. I wouldn't use really warm water, though, as she isn't used to it being an outdoor animal. If you provide her a washtub of 50 degree water she'll bathe all of the ice off in short order. It's not her feathers so much that I'd worry about, it's her feet. Those webs freeze too easily if they can't warm them up by sitting on them. Geese can pull their feet right up inside their "wheel wells", but ducks can't do this, can only sit on them. So get the ice off so she can start taking good care of her feet again. Poor thing!

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), February 27, 2002.

jennifer, if i put her in the tub to de ice, will she be okay to go back outside wet? will she freeze up again? hubby says to put her in the barn with a heat lamp on her, yes? no?

-- Susan (dsowen@tds.net), February 27, 2002.

The heat lamp would probably work just as well if you'd rather do it that way. I don't think it would hurt her to go back outside wet, though. If she has been greasing herself up right along so she normally sheds water all right, it shouldn't be a problem. Wild ducks get right out of the lake and into freezing conditions right along.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), February 27, 2002.

If she is truly wet, to the skin, she should be completely dry [and have time to reoil her feathers] before going back out into freezing temperatures, or she is likely to lose too much body heat before she can get dry.

-- Thumper/inOKC (slrldr@yahoo.com), February 27, 2002.

well,, you can slow roast it,, should be nice and tender

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 27, 2002.


STAN! BAD BOY!

-- Corky Wolf (corkywolf@hotmail.net), February 27, 2002.

Quit picking on Stan! I always get in trouble at work when the baby chicks arrive and I call them Shiskabobs!

-- Bernie from Northern Ontario (bernadette_kerr@hotmail.com), February 27, 2002.

YEAAA !! ! , quit picking on STAN

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 27, 2002.

Susan, after you get the poor duck unfrozen, either with the warm bath or heat lamp can you put your ducks somewhere protected when the weather is rotten? They are cold weather critters but there is a limit! Even a short "wall" of hay bales on three sides inside a pen will help. Be sure and watch her feet! LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 27, 2002.

Forgot to mention, yes, she needs time to dry and preen before going back on water. Ducks float because of the unique and wonderful way thier feathers mesh. Not because of oil. The oil that comes from the gland at the base of the tail helps dress them up, helps the feathers to shed debris but does not have anything to do with them being able to float. Ducklings don't stay bouyent all that long and will get waterlogged and drowned, not because they don't have "oil" on their feathers but because the juvenile down does not have the proper structure for floating that adult ducks feathers do. Muscovey ducks are somewhat lacking in this marvelous structure also being Jungle Birds and not true ducks so they drowned much more readily than the domestics derived from mallards. Hope your ducks are OK and that you can care for them a little better. Good Luck, LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 27, 2002.


i put her in a stall with a heat lamp, she is still there. there is a henhouse and a large barn but these silly ducks wander all over the place in the snow and rain, they don't care what the weather is.

Good one Stan:)

-- Susan (dsowen@tds.net), February 27, 2002.


Care for them a little better? Like i said they have henhouse and a large barn, two as a matter of fact. And I have never seen the silly things seek shelter from any kind of weather. Athough they do go in the barn to eat sometimes. Are they to dumb to seek shelter on tier own? should i lock them in one?

-- Susan (dsowen@tds.net), February 27, 2002.

Yeah, you might have to do their thinking for them when the weather gets tough. With our domestic critters they don't always do what is best for themselves. We have bred a lot of that survival instinct out of them, and sometimes what remains is directly contrary to their survival. The silly things. LOL That's OK, love them anyway! LOL Do keep them in when it is sub freezing. If they are dependant upon you for care then you owe the funny critters that much. Good luck, I sure hope Spring comes to your nick of the woods soon!

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 27, 2002.

You know - I don't post much - just come to read and study some - I have ducks too and I think what you have is fine for them - if they're so stupid that they can't survive simple things - then you should eat them. It's little snide jabs like (from LQ) "hope you can care for them a little better" which are completely out of line... some people have to just twist the knife a little bit when someone needs some advice - thats what will kill this forum and put the members in a funk again if you don't quit it.... JMO....

-- Cabarrus Farmer (DReece5@excite.com), February 28, 2002.

Well i locked her and her buddies in a stall ( they weren't rozen but seh would not settle down without them ) with a heat lamp. she thawed out pretty good but ws still shivering so i left herin ther all night. went out this morning and she must have dried out bec they had all flown out by themselves. i have pekins and cayuga's that will play in puddles whenit is cold cold and snowing. the bird that got iced over was a muscovy and i was shocked when i saw her. I will keep an eye on her tomake sure she doesn't dothis again, altho i don't understand how she did it. I have NEVER seen her in the duckpond, she has always acted like she didn't want anything to do with that water. Thanks for the advice everyone

-- Susan (dsowen@tds.net), February 28, 2002.


Glad to hear she is better. That is scary. As for Cabbarus, we have, as I have said, bred many of the survival instincts out of our domestic animals. That is the price we pay for the added benefits we derive from added meat, faster growth, better egg production etc. If we chose to keep domestics rather than wild strains then we owe it to them to take care of them, and take care of them properly. A Thoroughbred Horse will die in conditions that a mustang will thrive in. A wolf or coyote can live in conditions that many domestic dogs would perish should someone be so foolish to keep them like that. When we pen up an animal we remove and limit the choices they can make to help them survive. Maybe a duck would make a choice to follow it's instincts and go seek heavy brush to take shelter in very cold conditions. But in a pen, even with a barn or shed, the duck won't think those are viable. It will seek what it's instincts are telling it to but can't because it is penned up. If we ate every animal that is incapable of caring for itself during inclement weather we would soon be out of eggs, meat, milk etc. Get real CF and be cool. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 28, 2002.

My ducks are never penned up. 8 acres that i own, surrounded by hundreds of acres of timber and cattle pastures. They are free to seek any shelter thier "instinct" tells them to, whether it be brush or barns...

-- Susan (dsowen@tds.net), February 28, 2002.

Susan, I don't know where you live so it is hard to picture but it sure sounds rural, and beautiful, and that means predators. Sorry, I thought I understood that they were in a large pen type area with a barn and what-not. You had mentioned losing "another duck". Most anyone who raises these cuties locks them up in a secure house/pen overnight. Ducks are just a Vegas Buffet on two cute webbed feet and they will get eaten sooner or later. They sleep on the ground(true ducks, Moscovies will usually perch)and thus are easy prey. Hope your 'covie is OK today and came through the experience none the worse for wear. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 28, 2002.

Uhh... yeah Little Quack, allow me to "get real" for a second. Since you are (obviously) the authority on ducks and the like, I grant you that, yes, domesticated animals would not fare as well in the wild as wild animals would - of course - I think this is generally an understood concept - thanks for your statement of the obvious. What my point in this situation is - is this - What Susan has for a "duck set-up" sounds more than adequate, unless you think perhaps they should all have little duck mansions and be catered to at every turn. Less attitude and fewer snide comments from you and more helpful advice was also the point I was trying to make here. What was the point of your comment about hoping she'll "learn to care for them better" - How rude, tactless and haughty.... Perhaps now that we've all gone and gotten ill - others can learn from our efforts... a good day to you.

-- DR (cabarrusfarmer@aol.com), March 05, 2002.

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