orphaned Duckling help.

[bpetry]

So a friend of a friend knew I was raising some chick's and incubating duck eggs. She found this little guy wondering around alone and today is cold so she grabbed it. .. anyways it ended up in my garage with my chick's. First anyone know what breed this is? Second I have it alone as my chick's are like 3 or 4 weeks and I don't want them to kill it. .. is it OK alone? I have it under a lamp and it has access to unmedicated chick feed and water. .. anything else I need for it? It is tiny. .. do I need to teach it to eat?

Thanks

 

[TwoDogFarm]

I can help out on some of your questions. This looks like a mallard duckling to me. Where was it found? It may be that it's mother and the others were killed. I know mallards are nesting at this time of year.

Do you have other older ducks or is this the only one? Last year, we found an orphaned duck in the canal but it was already about 3 weeks old and someone had dropped it off. It did fine alone for a while; if they're alone like that, they do need a lot of human attention. Once ours was fully feathered, we put her with our adult flock and she was much happier. She was our best duck.

As far as what else this one needs, do make sure you are adding Brewers Yeast to its food. I learned the hard way that ducks need additional niacin than chickens. Add one tablespoon of Brewers Yeast to one cup of food. Just mix it in good. Other than that, it sounds like you're doing what you need to be doing. Hope this helps.

Good luck.

 

[TwoDogFarm]

I also think some people put a mirror in with a single duck or a stuffed toy so it doesn't feel alone. That night help it.

 

[bpetry]

I also think some people put a mirror in with a single duck or a stuffed toy so it doesn't feel alone. That night help it.

So I took your advice. .. this was the best I could do. .. I feel guilty though since it's alone. It does seem to appreciate my temp solution.

 

[TwoDogFarm]

Aww. That's it under the wing, right? It's hard to tell. I think it will be just fine. Didn't you say you are hatching some other duck eggs? You may try to put some of the little guys in with this one when they hatch and just monitor to make sure no one hurts the others.

 

[TwoDogFarm]

How's your baby doing?