Abandoned duckling

[Miss Lydia]

Once her flight feathers grow in they have a better chance at getting away from predators. @ValerieJ in Florida Muscovy are considered an invasive species and are not protected they can be killed for no other reason than they exist.

 

[chris330r]

It seems no matter what I do she's screwed. I don't want to hinder her from learning how to forage for food, and i'm terrified if I leave her in the Rubbermaid container i'll find her dead in the morning and then i'd feel incredibly guilty.

I guess the best thing to do is leave her alone and let nature take it's course. It's just so sad to see though.

 

[ValerieJ]

Once her flight feathers grow in they have a better chance at getting away from predators. @ValerieJ in Florida Muscovy are considered an invasive species and are not protected they can be killed for no other reason than they exist.

Here in Washington we have a 4 month duck hunting season, so I understand they are not protected. But I know people at the Humane Society know how to do these things, and my experience is they are happy to give advice. I wasn't thinking they would take the duck in. My concern about bringing the duckling in is having it imprint on the OP and become her duck whether she wants one or not. There are ways to do it without that happening. For example, one thing I can think of is giving the duckling a secure outdoor place to sleep, and let it continue to free range in the day time. Not sure it will survive that, and I don't know all the things to suggest. I used to work for the Humane Society, but I wasn't one of the ones who knew how to best do these things.

 

[ValerieJ]

It seems no matter what I do she's screwed. I don't want to hinder her from learning how to forage for food, and i'm terrified if I leave her in the Rubbermaid container i'll find her dead in the morning and then i'd feel incredibly guilty.

I guess the best thing to do is leave her alone and let nature take it's course. It's just so sad to see though.

You could humanely euthanize.

 

[chris330r]

The sun just went down and I watched as the baby followed the drakes. There's 3 regular drakes that spend all day by my patio and then go off somewhere at night to sleep. So hopefully she'll be protected by keeping close to them. They don't seem bothered by her and don't shoo her away either. I'm sure one of them is the father. I wonder if they have paternal instincts?

Anyway, i'm just going to let nature take it's course. Hopefully i'll see her in the morning. When I woke up this morning she was out there all by herself, so she survived one night on her own...hopefully she'll stay lucky.

 

[chris330r]

UPDATE: All seems well again. Mama took her back!!

First thing I did was look out back when I woke up and all 4 ducklings were together waiting for their morning bread with Mama close by. Her wound looks MUCH better. I think the matted fur made it look worse than it was. I can hardly see any wound this morning and she's back in the fold again. I'm so happy now and glad I didn't take her inside last night because I think that would've definitely interfered with her growing normally.

Anyway, all is well again. YAY!! In the pic she's the second on the left sitting with her siblings.

 

[ValerieJ]

That is very good to hear!

 

[chris330r]

At about how many weeks old are they generally out of danger from predators? I did a search but can't come up with any definitive answer. My guess is they're 6 weeks old now. I'm hoping it won't be too many weeks more until their wings grow enough to fly and they get their full feathers in. I know from memory they do grow pretty quickly. I'm just rooting for them all to make it now.

 

[ValerieJ]

At about how many weeks old are they generally out of danger from predators? I did a search but can't come up with any definitive answer. My guess is they're 6 weeks old now. I'm hoping it won't be too many weeks more until their wings grow enough to fly and they get their full feathers in. I know from memory they do grow pretty quickly. I'm just rooting for them all to make it now.

I know how you feel. We live on a river and watch the families of geese and ducks in spring that dwindle to about half of their size by early summer. Really all ducks and geese are prey on the river and I suspect the same for your pond. About the time every thing seems okay, and many have flown south for the winter, it's duck hunting season. In WA state, the duck hunters bag some 70,000 every year. Wish they would all fly south.

I hope you get to see all these little ones grow to full size and thrive. I've learned not to get too attached to the wildlife around here.

 

[chris330r]

Wow, 70,000 is a lot! I've never really cared before, but since moving into this home 7 years ago i've become quite fond of ducks. They each seem to have their own special personality and I can't imagine anyone killing them.
However, I also learned not to get attached to them and understand that out of 12 ducklings hatched, most likely only 3 will survive to full grown.
I've seen a heron literally snatch a baby right out of the water and mama furiously attack it while it took her baby away. After that, I realized it's just the laws of nature and you can't interfere.

Still, when it dwindles down to 3 or 4 babies I can't help rooting for them to make it. Hopefully in a couple more weeks they'll be too big for predators to bother with.