Hoping for some help

[shanflores21]

I'm new to this site. I'm in hawaii. I do some bird rescue through the humane society. Anyway on Sunday I was out running and I saw two baby ducklings with their mom on our neighborhood golf course. Later that day I saw two teenage girls with the ducklings. They had taken them from the mom I took them and their in a box with a heat lamp and I bought duck food. I'm just not familiar with ducks. I read sooooooo much I formation last night I'm a little dizzy from it all. Basically I'm just looking for basic Info. Anything I really need to know. I'm interested in knowing approximate age. I just have no idea.

the first picture is before the girls took them. When I saw them with their mother. If anyone knows breed

 

[homeshow]

Muscovy is the breed.

 

[shanflores21]

My phone is so lame. I realize that's typo city and I meant they're. They're in a box lol

 

[Amykins]

I hope you gave those brats a piece of your mind! What they did was not only reckless, it was illegal. Is the mama still in the area? If so you can probably release them back to her and she'll readily accept them. If it's a different female, it won't work. Geese on the other hand WILL adopt babies that aren't their own, for future reference. But ducks, eh, not so much.

If there's a wildlife rehabilitation center in your area, that would be the best place to take them. I don't recommend keeping them if you're not familiar on how to raise ducks, since they're wild you're gonna have an uphill battle the entire way. How do they behave towards you? Are they frightened?

 

[shanflores21]

My friend and I are the bird rehab in the area. The next closest one (the one over us) is an hour away and she's on extended vacation. These are my first ducks but I have extensive wild bird experience (10 years). I would totally give them back to the mom but unfortunately I have no idea who she is. Our golf course tries to control the population by taking the eggs. There's 150 or so ducks on the golf course so I don't know where the mom is. I wish I did.
They act completely friendly. Not scared at all. I bought a heat lamp and flock raiser before they came home. The feed store here only had that for ducks. I have chick mash for chickens and francolins but I had read that the medicated version isn't good for ducks. If there's something better I should order let me know . There's much else I can do with them. I called everywhere yesterday. I'm much more comfortable with the wild turkeys. I had lots of dicks when I was a kid but or course I want taking care of them. I'm mostly worried about their age. I was reading that their brooder temp needs to come down as they get older and I want to make sure it's right. It's hawaii so it isn't as if it's cold here but still. So any help you guys can give Id appreciate.

 

[shanflores21]

GEEZ ignore my phone. My autocorrect is just crazy!

 

[Miss Lydia]

My friend and I are the bird rehab in the area. The next closest one (the one over us) is an hour away and she's on extended vacation. These are my first ducks but I have extensive wild bird experience (10 years). I would totally give them back to the mom but unfortunately I have no idea who she is. Our golf course tries to control the population by taking the eggs. There's 150 or so ducks on the golf course so I don't know where the mom is. I wish I did.
They act completely friendly. Not scared at all. I bought a heat lamp and flock raiser before they came home. The feed store here only had that for ducks. I have chick mash for chickens and francolins but I had read that the medicated version isn't good for ducks. If there's something better I should order let me know

. There's much else I can do with them. I called everywhere yesterday. I'm much more comfortable with the wild turkeys. I had lots of dicks when I was a kid but or course I want taking care of them. I'm mostly worried about their age. I was reading that their brooder temp needs to come down as they get older and I want to make sure it's right. It's hawaii so it isn't as if it's cold here but still. So any help you guys can give Id appreciate.

Welcome to BYC, and believe me most of us didn't know much about ducks when we first started. Here is some really good info on how to care for them.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/750869/raising-and-caring-for-ducklings#post_10611711

Flock raiser is fine have used it for years for all baby water fowl. Hatcheries send out day old ducklings and chicks and goslings so even if they are only a day old they can survive with your care. Please do not release them back into the wild though after they have become dependent on you for feed and safety. I have Muscovy and they are an awesome breed of duck, yours look to be in their first week of life and look very healthy

 

[shanflores21]

Thank you so much for the info!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you so much for the info!

Keep us updated on how they are doing. I think Amykins might have been referring to wild ducks like wood ducks etc, that have a different eating routine than Muscovy and other breeds. If your ducklings don't act like they know how to eat the FR moisten a little of it with warm water and put it on the tip of your finger maybe they will nibble it and get the taste for it.Always give fresh water when feeding they have to have water to wash down their feed. Make them a water er like the one in the link that way they won't be able to climb into an open dish and risk the chance of drowning or chilling. I put a large rock inside mine for about 2 weeks that way if they still were able to get into it would not be deep enough for the to drown.

 

[homeshow]

Muscovy ducks are not a protected species in a lot of states. Wild native birds species including coots and mallards are protected. Feral muscovies are not. Those kids may not have broken a single law. Remember to be kind and informative to people interacting with all animals. Let's leave the crazy to the cat ladies.