Ducklings dumped at local lake..😞

[Katybird80]

I few days ago I was fishing at a lake near my home when 2 little (well little in that they still had downy feathers and were obviously not fully feathered) ducklings came right up to me begging for food. They were being “herded/chased” by a bunch of Canada geese. One was a Pekin and the other looked like either a mallard or Rouen. They appeared to be starving and were trying to eat the bait I was using for fishing. My best guess is that they were somewhere around 5-6 weeks old. Because Pekin around wild in California and it was pretty clear these two were bonded and there were no parents in sight, I figured there was a good chance someone purchased them as day-olds and when they realized ducks are messy and require a fair amount of care, they decided to “release them into the wild”. Ignorant idiots.
in any case, I decided to take them home and raise them myself. I have 3 ducks already, all of which are only a couple of weeks older than these 2. I quarantined the 2 new ones for a few days. They look and act healthy and have unbelievable appetites. I am sure they had not eaten anything substantial in several days or more. They are now fully integrated with my other ducks and everyone seems to get along fine. They have already gained quite a bit of weight and are feathering out nicely.
My question is, was this the wrong thing to do? Could I get in trouble for taking these ducks even though they were quite clearly dumped at the lake? Should I have just left them and hoped for the best? I don’t feel like I should feel bad but I keep questioning my actions..
They will be cared for diligently and are pretty spoiled already.
Thoughts or advice?
BTW- I live in El Dorado County, CA

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are beautiful and you are wonderful for bringing them home because I have no doubts they would face certain death there at the lake. You were there just for them. You can not get in trouble for rescuing domestic ducks. Now if they were wild that would be a different story.
You did good!

 

[Everose]

I'm pretty sure that the only time authorities are allowed to act is if someone thinks your ducks are wild (mallards, wood ducks, etc.) and if there were suspicions they would DNA test. If your ducks aren't wild they're safe

It looks like the chunky dark one is definitely rouen. Beautiful babies

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I few days ago I was fishing at a lake near my home when 2 little (well little in that they still had downy feathers and were obviously not fully feathered) ducklings came right up to me begging for food. They were being “herded/chased” by a bunch of Canada geese. One was a Pekin and the other looked like either a mallard or Rouen. They appeared to be starving and were trying to eat the bait I was using for fishing. My best guess is that they were somewhere around 5-6 weeks old. Because Pekin around wild in California and it was pretty clear these two were bonded and there were no parents in sight, I figured there was a good chance someone purchased them as day-olds and when they realized ducks are messy and require a fair amount of care, they decided to “release them into the wild”. Ignorant idiots.
in any case, I decided to take them home and raise them myself. I have 3 ducks already, all of which are only a couple of weeks older than these 2. I quarantined the 2 new ones for a few days. They look and act healthy and have unbelievable appetites. I am sure they had not eaten anything substantial in several days or more. They are now fully integrated with my other ducks and everyone seems to get along fine. They have already gained quite a bit of weight and are feathering out nicely.
My question is, was this the wrong thing to do? Could I get in trouble for taking these ducks even though they were quite clearly dumped at the lake? Should I have just left them and hoped for the best? I don’t feel like I should feel bad but I keep questioning my actions..
They will be cared for diligently and are pretty spoiled already.
Thoughts or advice?
BTW- I live in El Dorado County, CA

Nope.. your right. That's a Rouen and a Pekin. You did fine! Thems some lucky ducks!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Releasing domestic ducks is illegal, capturing them is not. Unless these ducks were on a privately owned lake and were actually the property of the person who owned the lake, I don’t think there’s a problem.
Domestic ducks interbreeding with wild ducks is actually an issue, as it muddies the gene pool, so what you did benefited the wild population. That is, in the unlikely event these ducks would’ve survived to adulthood and reproduced.

 

[Katybird80]

Thank you all for the kind words! I feel much better about my choice now. This was not a privately owned lake. It is open to the general public. If it had been privately owned, I definitely would not have taken these guys home. Thanks again to everyone for the kind words.
Next question, are these boys or girls? LOL I guess I will have to wait and see!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Shouldn’t be long before you hear a quack or one sounding like a frog quack female frog drake!

 

[CrazyChicken Lady]

You definitely did the right thing! Great job caring for the little ones!
The Rouen appears to be a female........ not sure on the Pekin though.

 

[Katybird80]

I really hope the Rouen is female And I guess it doesn’t matter as much with the Pekin. Although, I don’t know if they can interbreed?
I already had 2 female mallards and 1 male Rouen. I’d hate to have 2 or 3 drakes and only 2 females. Seems like it could become a problem later as they all mature..?

 

[Miss Lydia]

They can breed. It will become a problem drakes are rough on females and need at least 3 up a piece to protect the females from over breeding