Not only are ducks adorable, but baby ducks are adorable too, and just like adult ducks, baby ducks need to be stimulated to live a long and healthy life.
You may be the person who has to stimulate these birds. This article explores how to play with baby ducks
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How to play with baby ducks:
Baby ducks are one of the cutest animals out there, they are also quite fragile animals so you need to practice caution when around them, but they still want to be played with.
Here is how to safely play with your baby ducks:
Playing with you:
If you’re wanting the bird to spend time with you then you can play with them using a variety of toys that will stimulate them and get them to exercise.
one way to let the bird play with you is to leave bells all around them.
The birds will push the bells around curious as to what they are and the sound that the bells make will be entertaining to them.
Another way of playing with them is by putting chew toys close to their mouth and letting the baby birds explore the chew toys.
Chew toys that you can give your duck include knotted ropes, rubber bones, or chew toys meant for dogs.
You can also install a swing set in your duck houses and swing the birds as a way of playing with them.
Other ways of interacting and playing with your baby duckling include cuddling, snuggling, kissing, petting, and picking the birds up, that is, if the bird likes you enough to let you do all this.
Playing without you:
You may not be able to play with your duckling all day so giving them toys that they can play with on their own is also recommended.
Not only is giving your duck toys to play with recommended, but it’s also almost a necessity as they can become bored quite quickly and need stimulation to stay happy.
One way to entertain your pet is by giving the bird a mirror in its pen. The bird will think that its reflection in the mirror is another duck and will interact with it while you’re gone.
Leaving small balls (small but not small enough that the bird will try to eat and choke on) is also recommended. The birds will push these balls around and roll them around when they are bored.
What not to do:
While ducks like playing in water it isn’t recommended that you let your ducklings play in the water and leave them to dry on their own.
These birds can play in water but you’d need to quickly, and completely, dry them off once they are done swimming.
Mother ducks will allow their baby ducks to play in water because she will oil up and waterproof the duckling’s feathers before the ducklings get into the water.
You as a human duck raiser cannot do this so if you let your duck play in water then the ducklings may become waterlogged.
Waterlogging is where water becomes stuck on the bird’s feathers because they don’t have a layer of oil on them to repel the water.
So when the birds do get into a body of water the wings take too long to dry off resulting in hypothermia which can kill the bird.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Do Ducks Hide Their Babies?, Egg Broke Inside Of Duck, Why Do Ducks Bite Your Feet?, How To Communicate With Ducks, Duckling Keeps Getting Stuck On Back, Why Does My Duck Jump On Me, How Does A Mother Duck Take Care Of Her Ducklings, Chick Sitting Back On Legs, Why Does My Duck Lay Flat?