Many people like to think that their ducklings can just be put near the creek or in the bathtub and will just swim and swim… like you see in the wild.
Mother ducks have an oil gland at the base of  their tail, that they use to grease their feathers to make them water proof. She will also do this to her ducklings. The ducklings oil gland is not developed yet.
I have read recently that this is not true and that ducklings can take care of their own oil on their down.
However, the most frequent cause of duckling deaths is chilling after becoming wet. And although they can swim, they also tire very easily. This causes me to be more cautious and not allow the ducklings to swim until they have mot of their adult feathers.
If you want your baby to swim, provide a small pan with warm water, and an easy way for them to get in and out and quickly under a heat lamp.
By doing this, their oil gland will develop and they should be swimming by the time they are 6 – 7 weeks old!
If the duckling gets water logged, you may have to dry it with a hair dryer, or it could easily get chilled, and possibly die.
Surprisingly, ducks do not have to have a pond to swim in. They do well with a baby pool, trough or even a mud puddle after a rain. Muscovys seem to be the least interested in swimming. We raise an assortment of ducks here and do not have a pond. They will splash and play in their baby pool and then hop out and go about their business.
I love these ducks! They are quiet, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. Because they are so quiet I sometimes lose them, can’t hear them and then I worry as they are free ranged here. They can come and go as they please.
To make sure I can find them, we have a couple of Welsh Harlequins who announce wherever they are. 🙂
Another thing I love about the Muscovy is that they are not tied to the water bowl, or a swimming hole. They are quite content to
Another difference is they have long, sharp claws which are used to attach to tree branches at night when they roost. These claws can make a difference in how you carry a Muscovy…you don’t want to end with your blood on it’s claws!
Put your carrying arm over and around its body, pinning both wings in place and with your hand, take hold of one or both legs (depending on the size of the bird and the size of you) gently but firmly. Carry the bird backwards, like a football.
Muscovys eat a bit of everything – grass, slugs, bugs, flies, grain They are great for pest control. Be careful around your vegetable garden as your lettuce might suffer, but they are fine around less delicate and perennial crops. Muscovys make great pets, they socialize well with people as well as other pets such as dogs and cats. Muscovys are not great swimmers, so do not need a pond or large body of water. They are content with a pan.
Muscovys breed very easily, and before you know it you might have quite a few. If you do not want to eat them, then don’t let the girls go broody, and eat all the eggs instead. Muscovy ducks make fantastic mothers. Rainbow hatched out 13 eggs, which is pretty amazing as the girls aren’t all that big.
They will often fly up and roost, and are known more for flying around than flying away! Our first Muscovy, named Rainbow, did that within days of bringing her home. She flew off , much to my son’s dismay. But 3 days later she circled the homestead and came home. After that, we never worried when she took a notion to fly as she always came back. She also was an excellent mother, nesting somewhere and then bringing us the cutest little ducklings.
I am by no means an expert on raising rabbits. When someone asks my husband what breed we raise – he tells them “whatever colors look good”… I love the diversity of colors you can get, I love having lop eared bunnies, straight eared bunnies. I like the “assorted” bunny, and I love finding homes for my bunnies.
Our daughter, Bethany had her first bunny by the time she was 4 and she took serious care of it. Unfortunately, it was a single Large New Zealand female -which doesn’t always make the best pet. We found an adorable black and white dutch bunny for her, and she had Jasmine for quite a few years.
Spooky our cat and Jasmine our Dutch bunny in their bed together
Bunnies for pets are a lot of fun, a great pet to teach children responsibility, compassion, and empathy.
~ Rabbits can be raised anywhere ~ they fit easily into most family setting
~ Raising bunnies gives kids lots of options from a beginner’s pet project to a breeding project and perhaps in to a small business venture. ~Rabbits are a good sized animal for young children to work with. Young people are very capable of learning the skills necessary for a successful bunny project. ~ It doesn’t take a lot of money to get started with bunnies ~ This project fits in to most family budgets
Handling
*Being handled is a scary feeling for a bunny. If your bunny is frightened it will try to run away. Sometimes when you lift your bunny it will try to use it’s nails to grip the only surface it can feel: YOU.
This often results in being scratched.
REMEMBER to tell the kids that the bunny isn’t mad at you it is just scared. Start off by having the kids wear a long sleeved shirt.
*The bunnies here at High Lonesome are used to being held and are less likely to scratch, but if you drop your bunny one time, it will be frightened to be picked up after that.
This little bunny feels safe in my husband”s hands
Again, if you are handling the bunny gently, they will not panic
*The best way to pick up a bunny is to place one hand under it, just behind the front legs. Place your other hand under the animal’s rump. Hold the bunny next to your body with it’s head toward your elbow. If your bunny starts to struggle, drop to one knee. This lessons the distance the bunny will fall. Remember: even a quiet bunny can have a bad day. Be patient, and always let the bunny feel safe and secure in your arms.
Rabbits like to chew – itis natural and healthy for them to do so. Provide your bunny with something to chew: Hay, apple tree branch (not peach or apricot – they can be toxic), cotton cloth (as long as the bunny isn’t eating it)
HOUSING
Many people like to have their bunnies free-roam in their house with them. The bunny becomes part of the family. You need to bunny-proof the house – any cords within bunny reach WILL be chewed.
A simple puppy-pen that you can get at your local pet store is a great option. They are large enough to hold all of the essentials for a rabbit and give them room to roam. pens are easy to move when needed.
An excellent site to find out information on house bunnies is My House Rabbit
FEEDING *Feeding COMMERCIAL PELLETS is the easiest way to feed bunnies ~ there is no guessing. *If you want to try feeding your bunny less expensively you can try the HAY and GRAIN DIET: 2nd cutting alfalfa hay (70lbs) and a combination of rolled or ground oats, ground wheat, cracked corn, grain sorghum to equal 30 lbs. Feed 1 lb hay and 1/2 lb grain daily.
*These foods can be fed to bunnies: apples, barley, beets, blackberry bush, grass, carrots, corn, crabgrass, dandelion, dogwood, all grains, lettuce, milk, millet, oats, oranges, orchard grass, parsnips, peas, poplar, red top, root vegetables, sumac, sunflowers, sweet potato, timothy, turnip, vetch, wheat, willow.
DO NOT FEED: amaranth, arrow grass, bracken fern, buckeye, burdock, chinaberry, chokecherry leaves or pits, comfrey, foxglove, goldenrod, hemlock, horehound, jimson weed, johnson grass, larkspur, laurel, lima beans. lupine, milkweed, moldy bread, oak, pigweed, poppy, potato, swiss chard, tomato
LITTER BOX TRAINING *Bunnies can be litter box trained. They have an instinct to use the same place over and over. * Be sure to give your bunnies some toys to play with – an old phone book to rip up is a lot of fun, plastic rattles and keys are also a good choice.
This is our bunny George (as in “Curious George”).
The Rabbit House Society has an abundance of information on house bunnies and pets – from rabbit care, health, behavior, to grooming and traveling. They cover everything you need to know for raising a bunny
