Can ducklings swim in the bathtub?

[Lynette]

I have seen people post videos on youtube of their ducklings swimming in their bathtubs. Do they need to be a certain age? And don't they get chilled?

 

[Eroc1_1]

Some people let them swim at 2 days old (supervised) in warm water for about 5-10 minutes. Other people wait until 2 weeks of age with the same conditions. They should be supervised and dried off when they are done. Then put back in the brooder to warm up. So it is up to your comfort level.

 

[duckyfromoz]

There is not much point to running the bath for one or two babies- a small tub- or even sink is plenty for little ones only a few days old. But once they are about two weeks old- they will use the whole tub as they swim around and dive if they water is deep enough. If you make the water warm - and only leave them in a few minutes- towel dry them and put them back into a warm brooder they are fine. They can get water logged very quickly - so to start only a few minutes in the water- increasing as they age.

 

[Ilikedux]

i swam mine at 3 days old and they were fine as long as you watch them. if you have runners they do this weird thing where they go under water like a sub marine and of cores they get water every where and make a huge mess but other than that they a fun to swim.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

They are a joy to watch.

 

[Lamar Estate]

I let my ducklings and gosling swim at about 5 days old. They became tired only after several minutes.

As they get bigger, so does their "pool." I make sure to dry them off very well every time.

Momma Beaker supervising her babies:

Gizmo and Sebastian in a plastic storage tub (the goslings doesn't like it nearly as much--he made sure to tell us that):

Sebastian getting dried off:

Bath time fun:

Going after some mealworms (the brown thing is a ramp for them):

 

[DuckiesAndBees]

Wow, I love the look of those all black ducklings. Do those come from the cayuga-campbell cross?

 

[Lynette]

The pic of the duckling wrapped in the towel is so cute!

 

[Lamar Estate]

Quote:
Hello--

Yes, the ducklings are Cayuga x Khaki Campbell-Cayuga mixes. So, they are 75% Cayuga, 25% Khaki Campbell. Momma duck Beaker is the Khaki Campbell-Cayuga mix. Since mixing a Khaki Campbell drake with a Cayuga duck makes sex-colored ducklings, Beaker is chocolate brown with a green sheen. Her hatch siblings that are male are black.

Beaker's ducklings are black with a green sheen. Just adorable!

 

[Lamar Estate]

Quote:
That's Sebastian. He doesn't love bath time. He's actually a Sebastopol gosling. Poor thing, his hatch mates didn't make it. After a couple of days of non-stop crying, I finally took the advice of a BYCer and put Sebastian in a brooder with a duckling. They really like being together.