Fostering a mallard duckling-need advice

[jewelzbird]

On our way out today a duckling charged my car all lost and upset. We caught it and tried to find its mama. No luck. It isn't tiny. I'm feeding it water soaked chicken lay pellets, which I fear has too much calcium. The lady at our crappy local feed store told me to feed it hen scratch, which it can't seem to eat at all. Anything I can feed it that I might have around the house? I will go to another town tomorrow for better advice and actual duck food. Still hoping to find its mama. Hope I am not ruining this wild animal by taking it in. Can it be a pet even? (Not that I want a duck really, but trying to think what to do if I don't find its mama.) How do you know when it is old enough to set free? I have it under a heat lamp now because I think it might need that like our chicks did last year. This is all so unplanned and we go on vacation in 2 weeks. Any and all advice welcome. Thanks.

 

[silkiecuddles]

I feed my ducklings chick starter. Dunmore, I think.
If it's wild then it's probably a mallard. Mallards aren't the tamest of ducks, but it can be personable if handled enough at a young age. The heat lamp is good.
When you go out of town, do you have any friends/family who could care for it? Or (like someone I know on here) take it on your vacay!
If you don't want to keep it then I would release it when it's gotten all it's adult feathers into maybe, a park's pond? Or call some sort of local wild animal place?

Hope this helps!

 

[GarnerZoo]

If you don't want to keep it I would give it to a wildlife place that does rehabilitation, because after feeding it and stuff it's going to become domestic and rely on ppl for food and in the wild they don't have food handed to them, also you can't release ducks back into the wild if you're not a wildlife place. So that's your best bet if your not keeping it, a wildlife place might also have a female who lost it's babies and they can try to give it to her.

 

[GarnerZoo]

Hope that helps and best of luck!

 

[jewelzbird]

Thank you! Hoping to find the mama and return this baby. I am wondering how old it is. Guesses? How warm to keep it tonight? What is can eat. Am I hurting it feeding softened lay pellets for a day? Too much calcium?