Partner died, and now I have a single Duckling...

[katiebducks]

Hello,

I would really appreciate any advice. We currently have a single adult female mallard, about 1yo. She was raised with chickens, but once they started really pecking her, we decided to give the chickens to another family. Two days ago I brought home two pekin ducklings, about three weeks old. This evening one died, so now we have one duckling and one adult duck. Our adult is not very interested in the duckling, but she also is not aggressive. She just ignores the baby. I am worried about the baby now that his/her partner is gone. Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Deleted member 94844]

It is possible that the baby will bond with your adult duck, but it might take some time. We had a similar situation, but the opposite... one of our adult pair died and we hatched their baby to be with the widowed father. Our drake was very aggressive and attacked the duckling, so we had to wait until it was full grown to integrate them. The lone duckling needed to be with someone always, so he slept next to our bed and I carried his bin with me everywhere! It is better if they have duck companions their own age, but it might be difficult for you to find another 3 week old duckling to bond with it... If you can give it a lot of attention until it can be with the mallard, that might work out OK. I doubt the female will be aggressive. Even though dad tried to kill his son at first, our ducks are BFFs now!

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

I'd give your older one some more time. Give the duckling a softie to cuddle with.

 

[Carcajou]

X2, and,

katiebducks!

 

[katiebducks]

Thank you very much for your advice and welcoming. I never knew that I would love ducks so much! For right now, we are giving the baby lots of attention (as in cuddling with me while watching tv attention), as well as our adult. During the day when Ducky, our adult, (yes, I know it's a very unique name...) is in the yard, I have Martin, our baby, in the coop. This way they're able to see and hear each other. When we are in the yard, we open the coop door and let them explore. At night, we do have Martin in the garage after a bit of cuddling with me. I did place a softie in with him; thank you for the suggestion HollyDuckFarmer.

 

[shicks0211]

the mallard will warm up when the duckling is older i think. For some reason when you put ducklings with the adult ducklings they act like they're monsters and want nothing to do with them. I had a female adult buff and she had a buff male and a runner female in her "flock" i have a flock of ancona's and buffs as well, and a flock of cuyogas and a buff. So i had to rehome her buff and runner friends and she was alone. she found a male mallard and they are now inseparable..where he goes she goes and vice versa..so they do bond with each other but on their own terms. when the duckling is a little more grown the mallard will accept it and probably be besties with it

 

[samuelsonfarm]

Katie, where do you live? I have a whole flock of 4 week old ducklings. Maybe we can arrange something if you're close enough....you never know, you could be right down the road or something! I'm in Ann Arbor, MI.