Mandarin ducks come to stay

We’ve had some beautiful young ducklings brought in this week.  Two male Mandarins and a speckled orange tipped Teal.   They are about fourteen weeks old  and have had to be separated from their siblings as they are related.  Inbred ducks are not wanted.   The Teal is only half the size of the Mandarins but they all get on well.  The colouring of the male Mandarins is stunning – the females, if we had any, would be a drab brown.

We’ve given them a hay nest and a big pool of water.   If you are keeping ducks always make sure they have a way of getting out of their paddling pool – a few bricks and stones make a safe way out for them.   Ducks can’t be let out round here because there are too many foxes, they would be a tasty snack for a hungry predator.

Wouldn’t they fly away and be safe?   Sadly no, these ducklings have already been pinioned.   The bones in their wing tips have been broken so they can never fly.   It’s illegal for anyone other than a vet to do this and quite right too, it’s a cruel thing to do.    It’s done because humans want the birds to be kept captive, this is the cheaper option because no fences are needed, it’s impossible for the ducks to fly away.   Imagine how dreadful it is for the poor little things, they see the sky and the wide open spaces, they flap their wings and want to soar up in to the sky – but they can’t.  They have broken bones and mutilation that can’t be reversed.

This is done routinely to  other captive birds.  It’s a painful procedure and one of the ‘hidden’ cruelties, few people know when they are feeding the ducks in the park that they have been pinioned.

So our little ducklings are grounded and have been denied a natural life.