10 wild baby ducks dumped on door step

[ondrea19]

My brothers friends had 10 baby ducks just wonder up to the door they waited and waited for mom but she never came they had to go to work so they were dumped on me now my question is is it legal for me to have them and what can I let them go when they get bigger. I live in central Wisconsin

 

[Pyxis]

Not technically legal and you can't let them go. By raising them yourself they won't know how to find food in the wild, won't be very predator aware, and probably won't be able to fly away for the winter. Your best bet if you don't want to try to keep them is to find a local wildlife rehabber to take them. They might even be able to raise them in such a way that they can be released back into the wild.

 

[ondrea19]

It's not the end of the world for me to keep them since I alreadh have 6 ducks and one broody hen sitting on 8 eggs. Would my hen take them?

 

[Pyxis]

Possibly, but they probably already imprinted on their mother duck and might be too old to imprint on the hen, so that might not work. It would probably be safer to brood them yourself. Plus they could be carrying diseases so I'd keep them quarantined from your other poultry for a month to be sure they're healthy. They're illegal to own but probably you won't get people checking up on their origins as long as you don't mention where they came from.

They will fly when they're older and they won't be able to find their way back if they fly off, which would probably lead to starvation or death by predator, so be sure you keep their wings clipped when they get older. I lost a mallard that way once.

 

[ondrea19]

It's a Muscovy hen and they are at most 2 days old

 

[Pyxis]

It's a Muscovy hen and they are at most 2 days old

You could try it, but they may already have imprinted on their mother and be past the window for imprinting, which is only 24-48 hours after hatch. Also, as I said, they may have diseases and giving them to the duck without quarantining them first to make sure they're healthy means that you could be introducing a potentially fatal disease to your birds, especially right now, since the main vector of transmittance of avian influenza is wild waterfowl, and there are plenty of other diseases they can carry as well. Plus, the duck would abandon any eggs she's on if she does decide to take the ducklings, so if you want her to hatch the eggs she's on, you shouldn't give her the ducklings.

 

[ondrea19]

Alright. I'm just not looking forward to baby baby ducks again I just got 3 and they were a lot I don't want 10 but my good hearted nature won't let me just abandon them or pawn them off on someone else.

 

[Pyxis]

Alright. I'm just not looking forward to baby baby ducks again I just got 3 and they were a lot I don't want 10 but my good hearted nature won't let me just abandon them or pawn them off on someone else.

They are messy and stinky, that's for sure

 

[ondrea19]

They really are I just kicked out 10 baby chickens out if the house and now I have these

and my dog is just in love with baby birds. She's a border collie and she loves her flock

 

[Pyxis]

Ha, it never ends! Border collies are great dogs, and I would very much like to own one some day. To reduce the mess, try putting a pan covered with hardware cloth under their waterer - that way, when they splash in the water, it falls into the pan instead of getting into the brooder and making a big stinky mess.