Hey, y'all! First posting and first visit to the site today. Was trying to take a nap yesterday morning when my husband woke me up to come see the ducklings at our front door. There are ponds at the front of our subdivision and there is a muscovy hen? with ducklings who are about 6 or 7 weeks old now but there haven't been any other ducklings there at all. The ducklings (6 of them) that were at my door had no mother anywhere to be found so we caught 5 of them but were unable to locate the 6th by the time we got the 5th.
The mother came to the yard late yesterday afternoon and was brown and white but wasn't close enough to make sure that it had red on it's bill. We attempted to put them out in the yard in the container so she would hear them and come to them so we could try to release them back to her but she would go everywhere but where they were. Have not seen her at all today. With all of the cats and hawks in the neighborhood we couldn't just let them go. The ducklings do have a reddish color at the end of their bills if that means anything but we really aren't sure yet if they are muscovies or maybe a muscovy/mallard hybrid.
My BFF back home in NC has been raising ducks so I have gotten advice from her but we are accustomed to rescuing dogs, cats, & ferrets but not ducklings. We have gotten unmedicated crumbles from the local TSC and lettuce and I have cleared out my mulch from the plants at the pool so they can forage. We are keeping them in a large Rubbermaid container at night with a towel over it. If anyone has any advice please share.
Our plan is to hopefully be able to raise them to maturity and relocate them to the pond with the other ducks but if that isn't possible then I guess we have 5 pet ducks.
They are out during the day now with us and enjoying the pool. I have read that it is not safe and I have also read that it doesn't matter so until someone tells us differently our pool has become a duck pond for now but as a nurse I am concerned about salmonella and e-coli.
Sorry this is so long but we are excited and trying to learn all we can to have these guys as happy and healthy as we can. Thanks!
The mother came to the yard late yesterday afternoon and was brown and white but wasn't close enough to make sure that it had red on it's bill. We attempted to put them out in the yard in the container so she would hear them and come to them so we could try to release them back to her but she would go everywhere but where they were. Have not seen her at all today. With all of the cats and hawks in the neighborhood we couldn't just let them go. The ducklings do have a reddish color at the end of their bills if that means anything but we really aren't sure yet if they are muscovies or maybe a muscovy/mallard hybrid.
My BFF back home in NC has been raising ducks so I have gotten advice from her but we are accustomed to rescuing dogs, cats, & ferrets but not ducklings. We have gotten unmedicated crumbles from the local TSC and lettuce and I have cleared out my mulch from the plants at the pool so they can forage. We are keeping them in a large Rubbermaid container at night with a towel over it. If anyone has any advice please share.
Our plan is to hopefully be able to raise them to maturity and relocate them to the pond with the other ducks but if that isn't possible then I guess we have 5 pet ducks.
They are out during the day now with us and enjoying the pool. I have read that it is not safe and I have also read that it doesn't matter so until someone tells us differently our pool has become a duck pond for now but as a nurse I am concerned about salmonella and e-coli.
Sorry this is so long but we are excited and trying to learn all we can to have these guys as happy and healthy as we can. Thanks!
