Abandoned Ducks. No Idea whatsoever X.x

[PhoenixRin]

So these two little ducklings were left abandoned on my front lawn. No mother in sight, and the third little guy ran off, and I think my cats or some fox got to it before I could...*sniffle*

But I have never had any poultry before, I've had my 4 chicks for about 4 days now. I have no idea what kind of ducks these are, I can only assume they are wild; no idea how old they are, they're about the size of my chicks which are a week old. I will try and get some pictures, but they are being uncooperative. They're dark brown all over, but have some fawny-cream around their eyes. and the very tip of their beak looks like it's been dipped in orange-y paint. three little webbed toes, black with stripes of the fawny-cream. Any ideas on how to raise/feed/not kill them are GREATLY appreciated.

There are no animal rescue places where I live, except a shelter for dogs and cats. And they are SO NOT interested X.x So I am a hesitant, but not unwilling, new duck mother.

 

[sred98]

Hey! Congrats on your new babies! The main thing is to keep them warm. A heat lamp works best, but for now a simple light bulb will work. Keep it in a corner of the box, so they can move if it gets too hot. Make sure they have access to fresh water, in a shallow dish. They will probably make a mess with it, ducks can't stay out of the water dish! LOL!

You need to get them some Gamebird Starter crumbles. They need a higher protein than your chicks, but they can live on the chick starter for a few days.

Good luck!

Shelly

 

[chickensioux]

Lucky you. Everything sred 98 said but I would not keep them with the chicks. Duckies are very messy and the chicks will get wet all the time. Ducks are great fun. I started with 2 and now have 6. If you plan to keep them, they should do fine with your chickens when they are adults as long as they have a water dish deep enough to submerge their heads in. They have to be able to clean out their nostrils. Duck and ducklings are pretty hardy with these few tips. Good luck and enjoy them.

 

[LuvDux]

it sounds like you have wood ducks by the description of their bills. maybe not though.

 

[PlumTuckered]

Here's what I did with my 5 ducklings. I put one of those rubber liners down (a buck at the dollar store, 2 bucks at walmart) in my spare bathtub, laid a hand towel down over it at one end of the tub, feed dish and water dish at the drain end of the tub, heat lamp outside of the tub aimed at the handtowel/bed section. Twice a day I transferred the ducklings to a huge plastic bin, removed handtowel and dishes, turned the water on to rinse out the rubber non slip liner then put the plug in and let the water run (warm) a bit, transferred ducklings for a few minutes of play/swim time. Dry duckies and place back in plastic bin, rinse tub, lay liner back down, fresh hand towel , replace water and feed dishes and put duckies back in. This worked great and I had them in there for almost 3 weeks.

Hope that helps
Michelle

 

[crtrlovr]

When you get your feed for them, make SURE it is NON-medicated. My rehabber friend says ducks (especially wild breeds) don't do well on the medicated feed and that it can actually kill them.

Not knowing what kind yours are, I think I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[crtrlovr]

Quote:
that sounds like a GREAT plan. I'd love to do something like that so I could have duckies. Since I only have one bathroom, ...

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Welcome to my world! This just happened to me this week too (more or less)...anyway, here is the link to the page where I asked basically the same question, and the first person to respond to me gave me TONS of awesome information from a waterfowl breeder. Has helped IMMENSELY! I made a brooder for the ducklings out of a rubbermaid tote, covered with plastic hardware netting, a piece of non-skid shelf liner on the bottom, and small, shallow (about 3" deep) plastic container with about 2" of water in it, and a heat lamp. Pretty easy, plus it keeps my chicks from drowning in the water pan...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=200593

Good luck with your duckies!!

they're nuts, but hilarious!!

 

[PhoenixRin]

PICTURE UPDATE!!!


These are my Chicks.
The white one is a roo(no idea what he is), i've got a brown one(no idea what she is), the black and silver one I know is an Aracouna Or however you spell it. And I think the gold girl is A Red Star.


Here's one of the ducks.


Here's the two of them together

I named one of them Columbus because he/she is ALWAYS the one getting into trouble by escaping XD

 

[waibel zoo]

Those look like wood ducklings.You are SOOOOOO lucky.