How do I hold my ducks?

[GracePoultry]

My 4 wonderful ducks are much bigger now, and not as easy to hold.
First, I'm not sure ducks have bones. They have the body of an awkward worm and kind of just flop around when I pick them up. I try holding them I like I do with my chickens (one hand under the body. thumb and pinky hold the wings, middle finger in between the legs, and ring and index finger on the outside of the legs) but the ducks don't seem so like this and try getting their feet up (also how I found out ducks nails are much sharper than chickens') I don't want to hurt them and want to hold them in a way that is comfortable for them, so if anybody has any tips, that would be greatly appreciated!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Why are you wanting to hold them? It does put them in a fearful state to be restrained. Any sort of gripping can feel like a predator and make them fight. If you want to hold them to pet them than let their legs rest on something. If you are holding them to move them, or look at them, than what you are doing sounds correct. My only advice it to point the butt end away from your body.

 

[GracePoultry]

Why are you wanting to hold them? It does put them in a fearful state to be restrained. Any sort of gripping can feel like a predator and make them fight. If you want to hold them to pet them than let their legs rest on something. If you are holding them to move them, or look at them, than what you are doing sounds correct. My only advice it to point the butt end away from your body.

Ok thanks!! I have one with an eye that I have to flush out every day and sometimes I move them out into the yard so I can clean the run. I also do like to sit with them too, and yes, they are pooping machines

 

[ruthhope]

Definitely hold the butt end facing out until it's wrapped in an old towel. I have two 4-5 week old probable jumbo pekin rescued ducklings. They are enormous but only just starting to feather. I pick them up with two hands one on each side of the body, holding in their winglets and taking their weight low down round their pelvis. Then they stand on an old towel on my lap. If I had to wipe their eyes, I would wrap the towel round with just their head and neck sticking out, hold them against my body with my left arm, hold the head with my left hand, and wipe with my free right hand.

Fortunately, these two have decided I am MaMa duck and like being on my lap and cuddling up. When I wrap their butt ends with the towel to prevent "accidents" being shot out across the room, they snuggle up closer. I think they think the towel is MaMa ducks wing

 

[KathiQuacks]

For transporting, I’ll either use the hamburger hold - with 2 hands, place your fingers underneath the duck just in front of their legs, and your thumbs over top of their wings. You can pin their legs between 2 of your fingers to prevent scratching.

Or the football hold - place 1 hand underneath the duck just in front of their legs, and then bring them up, pinning their wings with your upper arm. Sometimes they can scratch at your side, so you’ll need to adjust how they’re held a bit, or wear a thicker shirt, lol.

Ruth’s method of wrapping in the towel and holding worked well for me when I needed to give one of my birds medication.