Leaving 10 day old ducklings

[kittyn]

Ok so so far in my little ducklings life I have been the most diligent foster mother for my two Aylesbury ducklings. Our ducklings are bring reared as part of a school nurturing project and the children have watched them incubate, hatch and grow over the past 10 days...needless to say if anything happened to them I dread to think of my pupils faces as they are only 4!! This said we have now broken up for the summer holidays...whoop but with that comes with an actual life (other teachers on here will identify!) previously they have come to school with me every day and had the most attention two ducklings will ever have! To cut a long story short on Thursday I have an outing booked which means I will be out of the house for 12 hours!! The longest I've left them is for like 6 when I'm sleeping and even then I've checked on them due to my paranoia!!! If I leave two water feeders and two bowls of feed will they be ok????

 

[GitaBooks]

They should be okay. I know its hard not to worry

but ducklings are tough little birds. Just make sure they have plenty of clean water, a warm place to rest, and a full dish of food.

Best of luck!

 

[Orca5094]

I agree, they will be fine! At least they have each other to hang out with. They will need to get used to being a little more independent anyway for the future. 12 hours is not a huge deal.

 

[Amiga]

I always like to try a test run - one problem I had with my ducklings was that they did not use up their water at a steady rate. The first hour, they might go through a quarter of it, then go through twice as much during the next hour.

I don't want to rain on a parade, but it would put your mind to ease even more for you to simply monitor their water usage for a 12 hour day, without you doing anything.

Another option is to find a kind friend who can look in on them a couple of times.

 

[jen2314]

I agree, my ducklings are tough and will withstand much! Good luck!