Raising a lone duckling

[AnjieTenthy]

Hi all,
I am DESPERATELY seeking advice. I have a 18 day old duckling who was shrink wrapped and rejected along with her siblings. I got home from work to check on hatching process and Mama duck decided she didn’t want her babies . I found one shrink wrapped egg being attacked and was able to save her, she is thriving and very cared for. I live remote, I posted from day 1 on surrounding towns pages trying to find a couple more ducklings or chicks but no luck at all.
She is obviously imprinted and needs a human in sight at all times. I have tried teddys and mirrors and playing steady beats so I can be out of sight but to no avail.
I’ve not yet found out detailed info on;

• how long will she have to have a human in sight for?
• Will she eventually be able to be left outside in a pen for a few hours while I leave to work or will she want to be inside forever?
• Will she eventually sleep outside or will she always want to sleep inside
• Will she ever be able to be introduced to my ducks and chooks or need a separate outdoor space?
• The closest ducklings available are 9 days away from hatching- too late/too big age gap to try have together so she learns she’s a duck?
• Will I ever be able to use the bathroom in peace and sleep again? I also work, while it’s ok for now to bring her with me 24/7 in won’t be forever

Please help, I’m doing the best I can with the limited knowledge and resources I have xx

 

[Sinadrea]

Hi all,
I am DESPERATELY seeking advice. I have a 18 day old duckling who was shrink wrapped and rejected along with her siblings. I got home from work to check on hatching process and Mama duck decided she didn’t want her babies . I found one shrink wrapped egg being attacked and was able to save her, she is thriving and very cared for. I live remote, I posted from day 1 on surrounding towns pages trying to find a couple more ducklings or chicks but no luck at all.
She is obviously imprinted and needs a human in sight at all times. I have tried teddys and mirrors and playing steady beats so I can be out of sight but to no avail.
I’ve not yet found out detailed info on;

• how long will she have to have a human in sight for?
• Will she eventually be able to be left outside in a pen for a few hours while I leave to work or will she want to be inside forever?
• Will she eventually sleep outside or will she always want to sleep inside
• Will she ever be able to be introduced to my ducks and chooks or need a separate outdoor space?
• The closest ducklings available are 9 days away from hatching- too late/too big age gap to try have together so she learns she’s a duck?
• Will I ever be able to use the bathroom in peace and sleep again? I also work, while it’s ok for now to bring her with me 24/7 in won’t be forever

Please help, I’m doing the best I can with the limited knowledge and resources I have xx

I may not be best of help but i have a 6 week old that I got at 4 weeks old. It was raised indoors until I got it and loved cuddles.

I put it out right away because I'm a novice and don't know anything about ducks. I put it in it's own pen with 2 sources of water and food. The chickens get in sometimes and steal its food, so my risk was keeping the pen open up top until it gets it's own run.

When I was not home it would be at my back door quacking. It would also follow me everywhere when I let it out to free range. I also thought it wouldn't be able to be a "duck".

At night, It sleeps on the coop floor of the chicken coop. By week 2 (currently), it walks to the coop, I'm still working on getting it to go in on it's own. For a week or so, It was lonely and would quack constantly because I left but it would stop after it settled down.

I found it a younger companion last weekend and the companion seems to be a smaller breed. There is a noticeable size difference. I believe since they are younger they are easier to integrate together. Once I gave my duck a duck, it started to groom the other duck and the lonely quacks stopped.

I think once it gets more feathers your duck should be okay to go outside and once you find another monthish old duck, they will be happy to have each other. I think the older ducks should help it realize it's a duck too!

I think you should be cautious and give it it's own pen until your others get used to it. It took my roosters the longest, which was 2 to 3 days each per duck. But, smaller like you have will probably need more time to grow.

Hopefully this helps a little, from an inexperienced duck keeper

 

[BobsMum]

Hi all,
I am DESPERATELY seeking advice. I have a 18 day old duckling who was shrink wrapped and rejected along with her siblings. I got home from work to check on hatching process and Mama duck decided she didn’t want her babies . I found one shrink wrapped egg being attacked and was able to save her, she is thriving and very cared for. I live remote, I posted from day 1 on surrounding towns pages trying to find a couple more ducklings or chicks but no luck at all.
She is obviously imprinted and needs a human in sight at all times. I have tried teddys and mirrors and playing steady beats so I can be out of sight but to no avail.
I’ve not yet found out detailed info on;

• how long will she have to have a human in sight for?
• Will she eventually be able to be left outside in a pen for a few hours while I leave to work or will she want to be inside forever?
• Will she eventually sleep outside or will she always want to sleep inside
• Will she ever be able to be introduced to my ducks and chooks or need a separate outdoor space?
• The closest ducklings available are 9 days away from hatching- too late/too big age gap to try have together so she learns she’s a duck?
• Will I ever be able to use the bathroom in peace and sleep again? I also work, while it’s ok for now to bring her with me 24/7 in won’t be forever

Please help, I’m doing the best I can with the limited knowledge and resources I have xx

We hatched a lone ducking at the end of June and we had him inside for 3 months before transitioning to outdoors. We kept him in a separate pen to start but he shared the run of the garden with the other ducks. There was some bullying to start but one of the female ducks took to him and once he was accepted by one, the remainder of the group seem to follow suit. He is still the friendliest of all the ducks, still try’s to come in the house at every opportunity but I limit the amount of interactions. He knows exactly where the fridge is where I keep the lettuce and where the dog water is, they are quiet intelligent creatures. I miss having him in the house but he needs to be with his own kind and I despaired constantly clearing up duck poop. I can now leave them together in the coop and no more need to separate them.

 

[BobsMum]

I may not be best of help but i have a 6 week old that I got at 4 weeks old. It was raised indoors until I got it and loved cuddles.

I put it out right away because I'm a novice and don't know anything about ducks. I put it in it's own pen with 2 sources of water and food. The chickens get in sometimes and steal its food, so my risk was keeping the pen open up top until it gets it's own run.

When I was not home it would be at my back door quacking. It would also follow me everywhere when I let it out to free range. I also thought it wouldn't be able to be a "duck".

At night, It sleeps on the coop floor of the chicken coop. By week 2 (currently), it walks to the coop, I'm still working on getting it to go in on it's own. For a week or so, It was lonely and would quack constantly because I left but it would stop after it settled down.

I found it a younger companion last weekend and the companion seems to be a smaller breed. There is a noticeable size difference. I believe since they are younger they are easier to integrate together. Once I gave my duck a duck, it started to groom the other duck and the lonely quacks stopped.

I think once it gets more feathers your duck should be okay to go outside and once you find another monthish old duck, they will be happy to have each other. I think the older ducks should help it realize it's a duck too!

I think you should be cautious and give it it's own pen until your others get used to it. It took my roosters the longest, which was 2 to 3 days each per duck. But, smaller like you have will probably need more time to grow.

Hopefully this helps a little, from an inexperienced duck keeper

We had a drake born in June, only one that hatched and he is now outside with the rest of my ducks. I had him inside for 3 months before starting to integrate him fully and introduced him regularly to the other ducks, always supervised from a week old. I started the transition in September, separating part of the pen and then I let them run around together in the whole garden. There was some bullying at first, but after a couple of weeks one of the female ducks took to the drake and after that the other ducks started to all accept him. I do miss him being in the house and I have to say he is the friendliest duck I’ve ever had. He will take every opportunity to come back in the house. He knows exactly where the fridge is and where I keep the lettuce and he knows where the dogs water bowl is and will head straight for it for a splash about the minute he comes through the back door. It would have been lovely to keep him in the house, but I couldn’t cope with all the poop clearing up. I do miss them. He used to keep me company as I cooked dinner but I am happy that he is now with his own kind and has his duck friends. It’s lovely to watch him grazing in the garden with the others and splashing about in their bathtub. He is a very bright and self assured duck and I put that down to being hand raised but it took him a while to get the hang of foraging, it seemed to be more fun than a necessity but they are quick to learn from their own kind too and he now digs about for food not just for fun.