Help! Newly adopted ducks are gone!

[MrsClucky]

I'm hoping they come home - they did yesterday about 6:00 p.m. which is why I made the mistake of letting them out again. I just assumed that they'd slipped through the fence by mistake and had come back after looking around the empty pasture on the other side. I thought it was a fluke - had no idea they'd smell a pond 1/2 a mile away and walk there. When my husband comes home we can try to get them with nets but I fear this is an impossible task. The pond is horribly overgrown on three sides. The minute they saw me, they hid in the grass and bushes. I simply can't get in there.

Is there any food or treat that would lure them?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
I hope they come home too, it's going to be awful scary out there after dark.. When we rescued 2 ducks from the river below our home they were just about starved so we had no problem getting them to come into the xpen for food. but I don't think this will work for yours unless they have been there a while and are hungry. Hopefully your right and they will come waddling home about the same time, if so keep them up till they know you better.

 

[MrsClucky]

thank you for all the replies! I hope they get hungry and come home - but isn't there an awful lot for a duck to eat in a pond?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Thjis time of year probably so, but there is alot of danger on and around the pond, snapping turtles, theres been a few posts just this week about them. and if they decided to come out of the water to sleep, there will be raccoons waiting for them and other types of predators. They are still too young to be by themselves outside with out protection. if ever. I would never be able to leave mine out they are locked up every night just too many things out there to eat them. Sorry if I am scaring or upsetting you but this is the facts. Plus they still need a more rounded diet, they aren't wild they are domesticated. What breed are they?

 

[MrsClucky]

I think they're Mallards or Mallard mixes. And I'm very concerned about raccoons. My husband and neighbor are going to help me catch them this evening. I don't have high hopes for that but we'll try our best. The neighbor whose pond they're in has ducks of her own but they've never discovered the pond, it's so overgrown.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Hope you can get them please let us know.

 

[crj]

You will have to build a pen and put a pool in there for them. It's the only way they will stay home at this point. They have to learn where home is as well.

 

[RHRanch]

as it gets dark, watch them. They will most likely come to shore and find a place to sleep. After dark, sneak up on them and put a box over them really fast so they don't go back into the water.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Were you able to get them?

 

[MrsClucky]

Sadly, no. They weren't even in the pond when we went over yesterday about 6:00. Went again this morning and they weren't there but when I was walking home, three small brown mallards flew out of another neighbor's field, staying very low to the ground, and flew off to a foresty area. I can't say for sure if it was them but seeing three ducks just like them, flying so low (just learning?), gave me hope. I looked online and some sites say mallards can fly as young as six weeks, other said eight. These are supposed to be seven weeks but the woman who had them was only guessing. So I fear they are gone for good but I'm hopeful that if they really can fly, they might be okay. They might have been wild ducks to begin with - they were left on someone's doorstep in a box.

I so appreciate your concern and advice. I feel horrible that I let this happen to three sweet little ducks. It's a rotten way to learn a lesson.