moskovy duckling

[etush]

i took home one week old duckling. he was crying and walking alone , looking for his mother. there were 2 moms with duckling around , but they were not interested in him, one of them even chase him out. so i took him and put him in a big plastic box with a towel in the bottom and stuff animal and water and cracked corn. he was crying a lot. an hour later i saw another mom with ducklings that look like in his age, and i do think it was the mother but unfortunately my husband just moved the kayak and the mother got scared and swam away with the ducklings.
i have a question. if tomorrow i am going to see her, can i let him go to her? if the baby is hers would she except him after a night that he wasn't with her?
now, if its not the mother then its mean that i am letting him be by him self again. i really dont know what to do.
can i give him anything else beside the corn? maybe some veggies and grains chop?
i really prefer not to raise him, as it looks that he is very distress.

 

[etush]

thank you so much for all the information. i will copy it to have it for the next rescue. i have parrots and i know water fowls can have PDD which is death sentence to parrots. Therefore i will not be able to raise a duck in my house. but i do have their chop which is healthy for ducks and hard boil eggs that i could give him. we do have near us a wonderful place calls Duck Haven and in the worst case we cant find the mother i would bring the duckling there. But i have great news. the mother was found, actually came to eat in my yard this morning and her little baby was reunite with her and his other 13 siblings. i think whats happened is that there were few moms here with their chicks and he probably got confused and stay with the wrong mom and his mother left (without seeing she miss one) and the other two moms didnt want him, so he stayed along crying and it was already evening, so i didnt want him to stay alone over night. otherwise i wouldn't take him. they are so sweet and i am happy i could help him and keep him warm overnight. thanks again. it is so great to have this forum and get answers.

 

[Tenrec]

Only let him go back to mom if you are sure you can get him back to you right away if she doesn't accept him. Also, make sure that's mom...Muscovy hens are notorious for killing ducklings that aren't theirs.

Give him a little bit of egg for now. He probably needs it. Corn alone isn't going to be great for him. If he'll eat the veggies for you, there are plenty of lists on what veggies ducks can and can't have.

He is distressed mostly because he's alone, and possibly cold. Do you have something to keep him warm? A lamp? A heating pad? A hot water bottle? Make sure it's not too hot and he can get away from it.

He will become less distressed once he's warm and has a friend, if you are up to the task of raising him and can't find anybody else. Unless you want him to imprint on you and hang around you 24/7, he will nee another little bird friend, ideally a duckling or two. He will also need to be switched to chick starter + grower or chick grower. You will have to supplement his diet with B vitamins, in the form of ground B complex, brewer's yeast, or poultry vitamin. In order to properly eat, he also needs to be able to stick his nostrils in the water. This can be a challenge, as he also does not need to be swimming or potentially drowning in his water dish.

A towel will be comforting for now, but hard to clean up as he gets older. Lots of different substrates people use -- I use pine chips.

Good on you for saving him...Let us know how it goes.

 

[Tenrec]

Aw, you saved him. Good job!

And yeah, I know your pets come first.