Our pet duck: the story of saving Lily February 11, 2013
Our pet duck Lily follows the family around on a nice summer afternoon.
Several years ago I got it in my head I needed a pet duck or two. A normal person would discuss this with their significant other and plan how to tackle the new addition to the family. I, however, got sneaky. A friend gave me some fertile eggs and I set them under some broody silkies. The husband didn’t find out about the new arrivals until the day they hatched and were waddling around the coop’s run.
He immediately fell in love with them and built me a pen to house them. So, I believed all was well because now we had expanded into keeping pet ducks. As they grew we were sad to find out both our pekin ducklings were male, so we’d be egg-less. Easy solution, go buy another sexed duckling—a female. It didn’t take me long to find our new pet duck, but she was only two weeks old. No way she could go with the boys, and there was no broody silkie to accept her. Well, this could only mean one thing. I would raise our pet duck. We named her Lily and she lived in our bathtub for four weeks.
She moved out to the yard where we attempted to put our newest pet duck in the pen with the boys. First, she wouldn’t go in the pen, she kicked and fought. While this was going on, slick Christmas and Ivey (our drake boys) made a dash for the door and escaped. They discovered the pond and since then only ever came back to hang out in the garden and get their feed. Apparently, that was the worst pen ever because Lily refused to stay in it either. She made her escape a few weeks later.
Since those early days, we’ve had more than one pet duck come to live with us–we’ve had lots. All lived happily around the pond. Always coming to us to eat, and even better, always coming up to the house to lay their eggs. We’d have to do a little Easter egg hunt each day, but the eggs were mostly around our deck and within our flower beds. Fresh duck eggs from a pet duck are always a treat, but the personality on these ducks let me know they were also wonderful pets just for entertainment. Lily always being the one to spend the most time along side our family in the yard. Fearless as a duck could be… which isn’t saying a lot!
This past summer was a tragedy like we’d never experienced. Our pond had become extremely low, and the protection for the ducks must have been diminished significantly. Coyotes came to the area and wiped out all our ducks except for Lily. Even though she survived, Lily received the most gruesome wounds. I found her one morning in June hiding under a bush, she made no noise until I got almost on top of her safe haven. I really think she only became vocal when she was sure it was me, or I might never have never seen her there.
When I first carried the limp body of our hurt pet duck to the house, I was sure she wouldn’t make it through the day, but I wasn’t giving up unless she let me know she didn’t want me to fight for her. We dressed and cleaned her wounds, as the skin and muscle from her neck was mostly gone. She remained outside in a quarantine pen for the first few days. Later we found taking care of Lily was easiest inside the house. We had to bathe her daily with dawn soap, redress her wounds three times a day, and I had to hold her head up for her as I fed and watered her at least four times a day. Wounds covered her chest and the damage was so bad I wasn’t sure where it ended. We also had her on antibiotics for seven days in case of infection. As she took the food and the water willingly, I was sure she’d eventually get her strength back.
Our pet duck Lily’s bandages, on the day I found her.
After four weeks, our pet duck was again was eating and drinking on her own. Lily was talking with me nonstop. She could swim and dunk her head under the bath water. My Lily was a survivor!
Four weeks more and we no longer needed to dress her wounds. We moved her outside into a safe and secure pen. She’s now all filled out with fresh white feathers and runs around full of energy. It may still be months before she’s over the whole experience but I have to say, our bond with our pet duck is stronger then ever before.
Do you keep any poultry other than chickens, like we do? Please tell us about it in the comments—which make good pets?
This is interesting… a very Long Narrow message area ! Any how- I raised a “Lilly” too- only she is a Lavender Orp. hen. Good for your lilly andto you too
I would like a pet duck but my husband says no, they are dirty. We do have chickens and our one neighbor doesn’t like them. Can one duck survive with chickens? Any suggestions?
I have thought of sneaking one in too but not to sure about that-lol.
Hi Darlene, I probably shouldn’t have been so sneaky.
But what is done, is done. Do some more research and see if ducks are right for you. I keep mine away from my chickens as they are quite a bit more messy, and their pen is always muddy from their fun time in the water bucket. Also, female ducks are much more vocal then hens. So it’s hard to hide from neighbors if you had one female duck in your backyard. However, the males are quite quiet.
I really enjoyed reading your story. We are also looking after an injured pet, but our hen’s injuries are no where near as severe as yours. Daily antibiotics down her beak and wound cleaning, but it is all worth it. They’re pets after all is said and done and we are very fond of them.
I have a female and male pet duck in the same coop as my five hens. We recently had to place cement down in our coop because of all the mud the ducks were making. The cement is easy to clean and stearalize and I always let my pet birds out of the pen to play in the backyard and baby swimming pools all day. My drake has been attacked by dogs twice because he is so aggressive towards my dogs. So lets just say they do not get their freedom until the dogs are put in the house. The drakes feathers have grown back and he is a stunning bird once again. If I could do it all again, I would have never gotten my dogs because they just can’t be trusted with the birds. I find more enjoyment out of my birds because they do not tear up my house or clothes. However my favorite bird is my female duck that has no name.
I have 3 pretty white ducks (like the one in the photo) that I got as babies that live happily in my back yard with my chickens. They all seem to know the difference because the chickens hang out with the chickens and the ducks hang out with the ducks. But they all get along. They all go into the same small coop when they see me coming with food. They chicken like to stay in it at night, but the ducks don’t mind the cold and rain and only sometimes stay in. I do have to give fresh drinking water more often because the ducks dirty it up quickly, even though they have a baby pool of their own. My ducks aren’t noisy at all. I don’t know if they are boys or girls, but I haven’t seen any eggs yet. I haven’t noticed that they are particularly messy. Could be because they share the backyard with three goats and a miniature horse!
We had two Peking ducks, Donald and daisy, and about 50 some chickens. Ducks thought they were chickens and wouldnt go in the pond. Ducks are about 4 years old and one night don’t come home with the chickens. Next day Donald shows up with battle wounds, mostly ruffled feathers, and fear in his eyes like you’ve never seen. He sat in the corner for about two weeks, then finally started mingling with chickens again. We have 50 chickens, all hens. Donald had roam of the ranch. In the spring he started showing his dominance. A Peking duck is quite a bit bigger than a chicken, and Donald showed it. He would sneak up in the chicken coop and grab a hen out of the bottom level of the egg laying basket, by their neck, slam them on the ground, hold them down and have his way with them. Now Donald lives a mile away in a 15×15 pen with a pond and a house.
Poor Lilly. ;( Glad you saved her.