Integrating small duckling into rest of my flock

[Quack and Waddle]

Have a 2week old duckling that we had to help hatch and has been in our house in a box with a brooder heater, stuffed animal and mirror.
The other siblings are twice the size, so we have not felt comfortable putting him outside with them, Mom and Dad.
When should we start supervised visits with small duckling in an enclosure within the main duckpen?
I’m getting conflicting advice on this and want to do the safe thing, as we have become very attached to this little bugger.
These are Call Ducks. We have Mom, Auntie, Dad and 2 larger ducklings.
Thank you for any advice or expertise on this subject.

 

[KathiQuacks]

I’d start with visits through a fence as soon as you’re able.
4 weeks old was safe size-wise for my ducklings to be in the same area as my adult ducks.
You’ll want to supervise their time together and separate again if anyone is being too aggressive, or if you cannot be there to watch. Only keep them together full-time once you’re sure they’re getting along. For my ducks, that took 2 weeks.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

When I had only one duckling hatch I would take him for daily visits from about a week on. He would sit in my lap and we would only stay a few minutes. My thinking was that I was letting my big ducks know I had a duckling and that he would eventually be joining the flock. When he got bigger, 3-4 weeks, he got off my lap and tried to join the adult females who promptly chased him right back to me. The visits got longer. Then he stayed in a cage in the yard with them and was let out with them when I was watching. Every night he would go to the gate to go in the house with me for the night. One night, he ran in the coop with the big girls and didn’t start calling for me. He has been their drake ever since and he is so sweet to them. So, enjoy your house duck. Eventually he will join them.