Bad living conditions for ducks?

[Bleenie]

I bought some new ducks and was kinda upset at the condition of their living area. At first I thought, "i just spoil mine maybe" but it made me feel worse about it going to see someone elses' ducks afterward and seeing how nice & clean their pens were.... maybe I am overreacting but I am thinking this isn't just one of those bad weather or i just havent cleaned the pen in a while situations... I mean, they didn't even seem at all embarassed by it

what do you guys consider "bad" or nasty living conditions for a duck or ducks?

 

[duckfat]

I have been told more than once that this method of duck farming is wrong:

 

[K4zn4v3]

I know someone who keeps their 18 jumbo pekins in a 4x6 cage at night with no food, water or protection from the elments other than a trash bag cabled tied to the top of the cage. I keep telling them that they need to make them a bigger pen but they dont listen. I have even offered to build it for them if they supply the materials. My ducks are deffinetly spoiled. During the day they are let out to free range and at night they go into their night pen which is a 6 foot high 8x16 foot walk in cage that is connected to an insulated box with two heat lights and a thermostat that keeps it at a constant 40 degrees during the winter. The entrances to the box are wind tunnels so that way they can go in and out at night without wind getting in and heat getting out.

 

[duckyfromoz]

I live in suburbia and have a very nice lawn - free of weeds growing in the yard. The ducks- currently 15 of them, freerange all day- and when ever a bare patch appears I put down grass seed. I rake and hose the poop regularly so it doesnt build up. The night pens filled with straw and shavings are cleaned regularly- and I am never embarrassed to have someone come over and see how my ducks live. Inside the house I have a variety of brooders- and while I am sometimes a little embarrassed about having SO MANY BABIES in the house- they are all clean and well cared for until they are off heat and go outside.

I have seen very dirty and sick and injured ducks being sold at auctions- and feel so for those ducks. If the owner is willing to sell dirty or sick animals the living conditions and care cant be adequate.

Here in Australia with all the recent floods- I would forgive anyone who has dirty muddy pens right now- but at other times there is no excuse- if you keep animals- any animals at all- you must take the full responsibility to provide them with adequate care and a clean living environment. In my opinion - anywhere that poop has built up is a bad living environment for ducks.

 

[justbugged]

Everyone seems to have different standards of care for animals. There are people that feel that you shouldn't feed a cat if you want them to kill vermin. I know that there are many people that keep their dog tied up all the time. They don't do anything more with that dog but feed the dog. I don't know why someone would think that they needed the dog if thats all they did with it. And I don't know if you saw one of the last episodes of one of the Hoarder shows that showed a woman that was brooding way to many chicks in 18gal plastic totes. She thought that she was taking great care of her animals. She didn't seem to know that there was dead birds in the totes. She also wouldn't let her ducks access water. She had them in cages that were to small for the ducks to stand up in.

Sometimes all you can do about seeing things that you know are not in the best interest of the animals is report them to the local police, and or the Humane Society. I think that most people are just following the things that they learned as children about taking care of animals. There are many people that don't think animals have feelings. I know that from living with a lot of animals that they do have feelings, and need at least the basics. Clean food, water, and housing.

 

[drdoolittle]

I don't know about "bad or nasty living conditions"----I guess if they didn't have adequate water/food, or were kept in a small pen all the time, that would be bad. Mine are out in a huge "community" pen free-ranging all day, and then go in their pen at night. The pen isn't that big, but they can all move around, and have food and water, and have a large house attached that they can all fit in together. I really hate to see ducks and geese crammed together in a cage so closely that they can't even move----some even have to stick their heads out through the wire----I've seen this at swap-meets. I think these people only consider them as food---not as living creatures.

 

[sourland]

Bad living conditions are any that cause continual health problems. Anything other than that is a judgement call on your part.

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

Quote:
X2

However, I think that should also include psychological health. My mother in law had a neighbor who kept her duck in a 2x2 fenced area (not covered from the elements) 24 hours a day. One could never see food or water, so who knows how often he received it. The saddest part was that he would just walk around in tiny circles, all day every day. Just spin. And I couldn't help but think how bored, lonely and almost crazy he had to feel.

 

[KansasKid]

Quote:
I would love to have a pond like that, thats duck paradise.

 

[Bleenie]

The ducks I saw lived in a large, very muddy area. They had room to get away from eachother if they wanted but i couldn't see any clean water (or even "duck clean" water) and when the owner tossed food out they were piling on top of eachother for it. that's what really irritated me i guess, they seemed so hungry. There was nearly 100 ducks and the only shelter was a 5' x 5' roof for them to get under... their nest boxes weren't even covered. It does rain a lot over here but it's not that much effort for an able person(and they are) to put together a decent shelter area for them. I actually had to move the wings to look at the back feathers to see what colors the ducks were, they were that dirty. They were trying to bathe in the little bit of water in the mud hole but obviously it was just adding more mud to them.

I guess i just feel like if you're going to keep an animal, you should at least give it the basics... food, clean water, shelter. these birds didn't have any of that. and the person couldn't figure out why they weren't laying..