The "supposed" rationale is because of antibiotic resistance due to overuse. And I agree that that is the problem but I think it has more to do with control.
Ducks are pretty resilient. But they're prey animals and certainly wouldn't want to show signs of pain if at all possible. He could very well be hurting and just not be showing any signs. Poor buddy.
One thing I've done before that works fairly well is to take a video of the event I want to capture and then take stills from it.
She seems pretty happy about that strawberry ❤️
I always thought it was neat how they get used to routine!
I come out at dusk to put everyone into the coop at night and I always say, "Go night night!" as I go through the fence. They all line up and start heading towards their house before I even make my way towards them.
I saw that happen with a pair of cardinals once. It was beyond sad. The female was lying dead on the side of the road and her mate was sitting next to her, just staring at her. He did fly away in the opposite direction when our car got close. I felt so bad for him.
I went through the nest. I ended up only putting 3 back under Zinnia. Only those 3 showed a sign of early development. 3 were bad with blood rings, and the rest were not developed. I'll pick the cleanest ones and put them in my incubator.
And now we'll wait and see if zinnia hatches any...
I have to go through the nest and mark eggs. I got a goose egg turner to fit my incubator so now I can take some for that.
I also don't want to leave too many in the best because no way can Zinnia cover that many.