KrisK Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 Okay, so I go to lock up the ducks tonight and find a single duckling in the duckhouse. I only have 9 ducks and Duke the drake so I needed to make sure this duckling was safe from Duke. Mom would not stay in the pen with the duckling. I have special screens that I use to divide the duckhouse when I have little ones. She climbed up the screening to get away and caused a general ruckus in the duckhouse. Not a safe place for a teeny tiny duckling. So, I now have this little duckling in the house, in a cat carrier. I put straw inside with a hot water bottle buried underneath the straw. The duckling was peeping until I got in on the 'nest'. It settled down. NOW what do I do?????? Should I try to reintroduce the duckling tomorrow or do I now have a house duckling until the next batch hatches?? Ideas, anyone?? thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbc1963 Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 Wow. Interesting dilemma! I don't raise ducks, but we have mallards who nest in our courtyard at school, and I tend the pond and whatnot for a couple weeks till we send them into the wild. I know a few years ago, our local pond had its usual spring rush of dozens of ducklings, all born at once, swimming after females in nice neat lines. Then, after the other ducklings were bigger, there was suddenly a single new duckling that appeared, with no apparent mother. It was a little bit heartbreaking to watch it swimming around the first day, all by itself. But! On the second day, one of the males seemed to have decided to adopt it. It stayed with that male, the way the others stayed with their mothers. So sweet. It flew south with the rest of them that fall, and that's all we saw. Not much help to you... but a tiny bit of evidence that not all drakes are harmful to babies. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 You may not need a house duckling, but we'll need pictures! Ruth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisK Posted August 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 Since singles don't do so well, I made a call and lucked out - a farmer about 2 hours from here has some 3 day olds he will sell to me...and as luck would have it, they are not white Muscovy ducklings, but coloured ones So, off I go to pick up the babies and set them all up in the front porch...fun times to be had. and yes, I'll post some pictures later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Shepherd Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 I have 6 duckling in my barn duckhouse right now that I raised since the middle of May. They are getting pretty big now and want to fly, time to clip wings They lived in my bathroom in a tupperware box with a heatlamp for a couple of weeks, I had some really good advice from people (Pam, Liz and other Board Members). Now, lets see how long it will take Hubby to built the dogrun for them . Anyways, you will have oodles of fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 I'm glad you were able to find some little ducky companions for your singleton. He will be much happier. Cleaning up after an adult house duck could be problematic, lol! J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Good Shepherd Posted September 1, 2011 Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 I'm glad you were able to find some little ducky companions for your singleton. He will be much happier. Cleaning up after an adult house duck could be problematic, lol! J. Hi Julie Cleaning the box with 6 baby ducks was not much fun either So after a couple of weeks it was really really time for them to be "Barn Ducks" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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