The great duckling rescue! A few hours of panic, long story but what an adventure.

LillyAcresFarm

Chirping
Aug 13, 2020
134
274
94
Pipestem, Wv
Yesterday was a wonderfully stressful day. I had my two daughters 4&5 and we just moved some eggs to our hatching incubator when it died. So we rushed to tractor supply to get a new incubator to save some of our eggs. We ended up losing two. They died while zipping. šŸ˜­šŸ˜­ however we have one who is still zipping and peeping and one who has yet to pip.

Anyways while we were gone which was only two hours at most I remembered we hadnā€™t watered our ducklings in the brooder. We keep it on our second story porch with a heat lamp. Their brooder is covered with chicken wire at the top and I hadnā€™t had any escapes until yesterday.

My 5 year old was outside with me while I was filling the water and she looked at me and said ā€œum one of the ducks is goneā€ so I was just kind of brushed her off because I figured it jumped in the feeder again as one of our ducklings does this almost daily.

However when I looked in the brooder. I saw one adorable silver Swedish, 2 black Swedish and 1 Rouen.

The only problem is I have two 3 week old Rouen ducklings! Where is the duck. We searched the porch all over and not in any corner. No where to be seen. Did our cat scale the balcony and grab him I doubt it. This duckling we call Bam Bam so my daughter is screaming Bam Bam at the top of her lungs. My neighbors look concerned. I ignore.

My daughter suggested that since we took the ducklings out to the big duck pen yesterday that maybe he fell off the second story porch and walked over to the big duck pen. I wasnā€™t optimistic and was sure that Bam Bam has fell to his death, broke a leg and our cat has made a meal of him. Itā€™s also pouring the rain so his chance of chilling is high.

I wanted to at least try to find a little duck body or some feathers so we head downstairs. I ask my Father in law if he has seen any loose ducklings outside and he says no. Heā€™s also terrified of all things with wings so now he is panicked šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚.

My daughter and I walk over to the big duck pen and look around and no baby duck there. We look near the pools but still no sign of Bam Bam. I realized I hadnā€™t checked on the ducks before I left and if something happens to one of the ducklings or chicks my husband usually buries them before I wake up. I thought that maybe he forgot to tell me this morning that one of them met an untimely fate.

I call him and he has no idea what Iā€™m talking about so I tell him Iā€™m searching for Houdini the duck as he has just vanished. By this time my daughter and I are soaked from the rain and we make our way back to the house. We checked the hot tub as the lid was off and we checked all around but no sign of a Duck. I tell my Daughter that Bam Bam has probably been taken by Tommy, our cat.

Then she stops and says ā€œMom, do you hear that? I hear, I hear, peeping!ā€ So we stop and sure enough there is a very faint ā€œpeep,peep,peepā€ Is it Bam Bam?

We start looking all over and then I spot him standing underneath my porch steps. Alive, soaked and peeping. Time to save Bam Bam. He darts underneath our house. How his legs arenā€™t broken is a mystery. I go upstairs to grab the food bucket. My poor 5 year old then crawls under the house. Iā€™m 8 months pregnant I canā€™t fit under there so she takes one for the team. I waddle to my husbands shed to grab his fish net.

Sheā€™s crawling all around under the house chasing the duckling. Iā€™m encouraging her to steer him towards me. She gets him close to me I swing the net and miss. She scolds me for this mistake and takes off after him again. The next time she comes close Iā€™m dangling the net above the steps just waiting. Bam Bam gets to the step and just stops and looks up at me holding this bright green net and thatā€™s when my daughter grabs him.

We celebrate! We found the duckling and saved him. We have no idea how he even got out. So we grab two giant pieces of wood to put on the sides of the chicken wire to make it tight. We take the wet duck upstairs and put him back with his friends who all cuddle up to him. Iā€™m sure they all asked him about his adventures and where he went without all of them.

As of today Bam Bam is fine and is still contained. That was a first for us. Weā€™ve never had an escape from the brooder and surely didnā€™t think they would survive such a fall without some kind of injury. Lucky, lucky ducky. Included are some pictures of Bam Bam ā¤ļø
 

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