My neighbor has a pond right by her house and three years in a row got about 10 ducklings and after they were old enough she released them in her pond, after a very half-hearted attempt to keep them in a coop. So they would live out there like semi-domestic ducks, coming up to her barn twice a day to eat food. One by one they would get killed by wildlife since we live in the woods and there are lots of predators. She pretends to be sad everytime but then just gets more ducks to replace them the next year. This year she was down to one duck and it was swimming alone on her pond for two weeks before she caught it in her barn and gave it to me to add to my flock. I was unsure how it would go since this girl, Opal I've named her, had been enjoying tons of freedom and a huge pond, though also likely living in terror, having seen all her mates getting picked off in violent ways. My current flock was 7 ducks. I put her in their run enclosed by a fence. She was very afraid of me and also didn't understand the concept of wire and fences, so the first few minutes she wildly flew into the wire fences, trying to get away from me and to the other ducks. We just left her be and she soon settled down enough to drink water. At night my ducks sleep in an attached enclosed room and I put Opal in there separated by a fence. The next day I let my ducks out of the run - I usually free range them for a little bit a couple times a day then they go into a portable house on the grass for a couple hours. I moved the house really close to my run and when my ducks marched in there Opal went right with them. Her big desire was to be part of the group and she wasn't caring at all about running away and getting her freedom. Long story short (ha, I know it's already long, I could talk about my ducks all day!) I gradually integrated her by adding the ducks that most accepted her to her side of the fence. Then I spent lots of time watching them all together free-ranging and breaking up scuffles. A couple of my ducks really chased her around and would bite her. Everyone was a bit stressed for the first 3-4 days. By the end of the week they were all combined and there was still some chasing of Opal, but decreasing. Now, I'm about three weeks out and she is just one of the group. Two of my ducks that least accepted her will still chatter at her or give her a little nip, but that will pass in time. I'm so happy that she has shelter now from the winter weather and protection from the predators. She seems so happy and content and accepted the new lifestyle with ease. In the end ducks are defenseless domestic animals, and they deserve protection from the weather and predators and anything that can harm them. It's certainly not your responsibility to rescue them, but your duck does need company and the chance to live a normal duck life outside, so perhaps it could be a win-win for you to try to lure them into your yard and give them a domestic life. And I'm not saying your situation would be as easy as mine - just relating what happened with me. I only rescued one duck! You do need to look out for the ratio of males to females though and make sure over-mating doesn't occur.
Also, for anyone reading this who wants to advise me about proper quarantine when rescuing a duck - I know! I had really tight time constraints to integrate her because I was going out of town for Thanksgiving and I had to be able to leave them all together. Rather than say no to rescuing her I decided to take a chance and it turned out well, which I'm so thankful for.
