Lonely Duckling

[protodon]

I have a lonely duckling that I hatched. I attempted to hatch about 20 duck eggs from ebay and only 1 hatched! It was definitely my incubator and the temperature fluctuating so much that caused that. I also hatched BW quail at the same time. I was keeping this lonely duckling with the quail but the time has come for this duckling to move out. I was searching for another duckling on craigslist to friend up with my duckling but I couldn't find one.

Now I have this duckling on the ground that is contantly crying and running all over the place! Last night I let him run around then put him in the coop with everyone else. This morning he comes running out again non-stop. Peeping and running all over. He actually got out of my fence. I couldn't have him getting lost while I was at work. So I decided to put him in a wire cage with food and water and put that next to the food and water for the rest of my flock so maybe he can get accustomed to them instead of constantly running away from them.

I knew this was going to be a problem and I have no idea how to integrate him into the rest of my flock. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[hendrix25]

I know this may seem random, but get him a clean feather duster or a stuffed duck and put in with him. so he can "cuddle" with it. the more you handle him the more he will imprint on you and that will make putting him in your flock much harder. when mine were babies i got the a stuffed duck in the hunting department of wal-mart. they loved it until they were way too old. do you have other ducks? what breed is he? you know you have to give us some pictures now....lol

 

[Duck Keeper]

ANY stuffed toy is a favorite of my babies!

I also hope he's got a heat source...
Never tried a feather duster, but it sounds like one of the best ideas to me.

 

[protodon]

Oh I think I forgot to mention this guy is 3 weeks old. He is a heat source! He was keeping my quail chicks warm through the chilly nights warm when I moved them outside. But he is now too big to be with them and they can keep themselves warm.

He is a khaki campbell and I am not yet sure if he is a he. I do have 11 other ducks, some Blue Swedish and Blue Swedish crosses and a Khaki hen and an Indian Runner hen. And I am getting 10 more ducklings from McMurray, unfortunately they won't come til the first week of October and he will be pretty much full grown or close to it by then.

Usually when I have some ducklings that I put out there. They all have each other to hand around with. But this guy is alone so he just runs and runs! When I get home i will let him out of the cage to run around a bit more then let him sleep in the coop with the rest of the flock. Then back in the cage in the morning til I can watch him all day on the weekend.

 

[Duck Keeper]

Phew! I was worried for a second!

I know, once they hit a certain age they seem to dislike the heat and have a hard time sleeping with the light on.

I don't know what to tell you to do though, except don't get too attached unless you want a duck that's afraid of his own kind.

I think I'd rather have a skiddish duck than a duck that's afraid to hang with his own species.

At least you can corner them and pick them up to check them out.

 

[L0rraine]

I went through this with a lone duckling hatched by a broody hen. The duckling was okay while her 'mother' hen was doting on her, but at some point the other hens decided she was an aberration and tried to kill her (and they almost succeeded) so I separated the two until momma hen decided she REALLY wanted back with the rest of the flock. The poor lone young duckling (about six weeks by then) wasn't happy with humans and couldn't understand why the chickens didn't want her. I finally found someone local to buy another duck from and the two bonded pretty well even though the companion duck was quite a bit older.

... and, as all the duck stories tend to go ... NOW I'm up to eleven ducks

 

[Dances with Ducks]

You could also put in a mirror so the little guy will see what he should be bonding with.