Raising and caring for ducklings

[Miss Lydia]

My 6-two day old pekin ducklings

Very sweet.

 

[aurora14]

Here is little Nugget trying to fall asleep on me earlier. I am located in Central Illinois but I had him in an air conditioned house overnight to make sure I can keep an eye on him for now, so that's why I used ,the heat lamp. And I found a non-medicated duckling/chick crumb to use and he's been eating it real good! (can tell by the way he has been pooping! haha) im not at home right now but ill post a pic of the bag to show you to see if I need to add anything to it. He does have a little cut on his leg but seems to be healing great already! The long story to how I rescued him goes like this: I was going down the interstate and seen them trying to cross (about 5 ducklings and a momma) I pulled over as soon as I could and ran out of the car to see if there was an way to save any of them. I shooed the momma and one duckling off to the side where there was water and tall grass. I tried to get traffic over but that's hard to do on a 70mph interstate. I got 3 off the highway but for the last one left, it was already too late :'( well the other two were injured pretty badly that they didn't make it either :'( I tried finding momma to reunite her with her baby but her and the first duckling had ran off already. so by that point, my adrenaline was coming down and I just start balling like a little baby. (I have like the BIGGEST heart for all animals). So I'm trying to gain as much information on this little guy to raise him. I keep saying him but I have absolutely no idea what the gender is. I was told to wait until it's older and you can tell by how rough or high their noises are? We shall see! Thanks for the info!

That is soo awesome of you! Just last week I helped a momma mallard and her littles get across a busy road. Thankfully all made it safely across Can't say the same for a turtle I tried to help a couple years ago, some jerk in a truck swerved to smoosh it a minute before I could get to it I was steamed about it for hours after........

 

[tncnwk12]

I bought Nugget a buddy today, and when I went to check on him, this is wat I found...TOO CUTE!! I searched all over town for that little mallard! Hehe

 

[tncnwk12]

And this is the feed that I found for him..found at Farm and Home!

 

[Amiga]

Manna Pro is reputable, I believe.

sigh. It would be nice for these things to be more straightforward.

 

[tncnwk12]

What does reputable mean exactly?

 

[jtn42248]

What does reputable mean exactly?

Speaking out of turn but I am thinking they mean that Manna Pro is a reputable company. I did a little research and what you have should provide just what Nugget needs to get a good run on a healthy life. Guessing that he is still pretty young you should feed him this up until approximately 8 weeks of age. After that you can move him to something like Purina Flock Raiser or any food that is meant for multiple species of poultry if you can not find a food specifically for ducks. The picture is beyond precious. He needs a living companion if you can manage it. Otherwise, pay a lot of attention to him and let him know that he is not as alone as he may think. There are any number of ducks that have been raised alone and do very well. Just remember that alone with you as his only companion he will imprint pretty strongly with you for his entire life. If he is a wild duck his instinct will be, someday, to take flight and that may be hard for both of you.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I bought Nugget a buddy today, and when I went to check on him, this is wat I found...TOO CUTE!! I searched all over town for that little mallard! Hehe

That is adorable.

not as good as the real thing though.

 

[duckincubation]

I need some help my mallard ducks are on. Day 9 of incubation and I saw veins earlier in the week but not now all I can make out is a black mass. Please help the temp has been going up and down from 97 to 110 I freaked out when they were at 110 an roughed them and the didn't seem to hot but I cooled them down and put them back in are they ok?

 

[tncnwk12]

Would anyone know where I can get Nugget a duckling friend around central Illinois? Farm and Home only have them around April..