Rejected duckling!!! HELP

[DuCKS333]

Dear all.

My Muscovy had some surprise ducklings yesterday, yes I knew she was sitting on eggs but she’d been sitting for well over a month and the weather has been very cold in England in February so I figured this week I would take away the eggs away as I took away 6 yesterday that were not fertile. She must have hidden 2 more because I lifted her yesterday and out popped a duckling!!

Perfectly healthy, mumma looking after it. Then I noticed the other was on the way so left mumma to it. I went in this morning and could see the duckling was on its way out. So again left mumma to do her thing.

2 hours ish later on my way to work I thought I’ll just leave them water & crumb for the day. And to my horror the egg was gone!!!! And the I spotted it. The other side of the coop!!! Chucked away by mumma duck.

It was very cold so I very quickly cracked her out of the remaining shell and she was completely limp and looked 100% gone.
I took her over to the house and used a hairdryer and to my absolute surprise 5 minutes later the duckling was back with us!!!

It’s now been a few hours and the duckling has come to work with me, luckily we have all the kit like a red light from last year and it seems to be acting the exact same as if I’d hatched it in an incubator.

So the question is now… what do I do with my little one? Risk giving it back to mumma? Mumma duck has 1 other healthy duckling she is caring for but if I’m honest she’s a nasty duck. She bites and she attacks me on the normal day to day when she’s not nesting. This is her first ducklings as she’s just 1 year old and it is a mix breed duckling as the father is not Muscovy.

Do I risk giving it back to mumma or become the care giver for the little one? Any ideas would be amazing.

I do understand I went against certain ethics by getting involved in saving the duckling and I’m sorry If that upset anyone . But in my opinion Saving a little one was worth it.

 

[DuCKS333]

Here’s the little one 2 hours after rescue

 

[DuCKS333]

Just to point out aswell. I did not stress out mumma duck. I was simply just refilling the water & food when I noticed.
She was very at ease when I went in to leave some chick crumb & the eggs have been undisturbed for over a month.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Right now I would just give the little guy some time to get warm and back on his feet. Have you noticed anything wrong with the duck? Maybe the poor guy just rolled off a bit trying to hatch and Momma didn't know what to do. Are you sure she threw him out of the nest? I would take a few minutes when it is light and you can watch carefully and try to put the little guy back under Momma. If that doesn't work you will have to hand raise him, remember they are flock animals, so he will be lonely and more likely to be a failure to thrive, so you may want a set up where they can see each other without touching. Good luck and give yourself a pat on the back for saving the little guy!

 

[Kimmis25]

Personally I’d give her back to momma duck when I could keep an eye on her for a while. A lot of farm animals will accept their young from humans just because even tho she’s “nasty” to you she still recognizes that’s where food comes from and such. But if you keep an eye on her and she gets nasty with baby then take baby away and do it yourself baby. I think she’ll be fine with it.

 

[DuCKS333]

Right now I would just give the little guy some time to get warm and back on his feet. Have you noticed anything wrong with the duck? Maybe the poor guy just rolled off a bit trying to hatch and Momma didn't know what to do. Are you sure she threw him out of the nest? I would take a few minutes when it is light and you can watch carefully and try to put the little guy back under Momma. If that doesn't work you will have to hand raise him, remember they are flock animals, so he will be lonely and more likely to be a failure to thrive, so you may want a set up where they can see each other without touching. Good luck and give yourself a pat on the back for saving the little guy!

Thank you for your super quick reply!

Sadly I’m 100% that mumma chucked him out. He was in the nest box and that has a higher wall all around it and next to the nest box in front was feed and water. The little guys was literally over the complete other side of the last chicken house. Couldn't have been any further away…. And I could see where she’d walked through the food to get rid of it.

So how long shall I give the little guy before trying to return to mumma duck? He’s currently still drying off. And rolling around. He seems ok but he’s not on his feet yet? But it’s only been a few hours since his ordeal.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I personally would give him some time to get over the shock, just make sure he is warm enough. Then when you have the time to stand there and watch for about an hour to see how Momma is going to react I would put them back together. I would make sure I was there to make sure Momma doesn't get too rough with him. JMHO

 

[DuCKS333]

Thank you for your super quick reply!

Sadly I’m 100% that mumma chucked him out. He was in the nest box and that has a higher wall all around it and next to the nest box in front was feed and water. The little guys was literally over the complete other side of the last chicken house. Couldn't have been any further away…. And I could see where she’d walked through the food to get rid of it.

So how long shall I give the little guy before trying to return to mumma duck? He’s currently still drying off. And rolling around. He seems ok but he’s not on his feet yet? But it’s only been a few hours since his ordeal.

Right now I would just give the little guy some time to get warm and back on his feet. Have you noticed anything wrong with the duck? Maybe the poor guy just rolled off a bit trying to hatch and Momma didn't know what to do. Are you sure she threw him out of the nest? I would take a few minutes when it is light and you can watch carefully and try to put the little guy back under Momma. If that doesn't work you will have to hand raise him, remember they are flock animals, so he will be lonely and more likely to be a failure to thrive, so you may want a set up where they can see each other without touching. Good luck and give yourself a pat on the back for saving the little guy!

I am wondering if maybe there might be something slightly wrong ugh the young one. I’ve had this before with a duckling where it’s little legs didn’t quite seem to work in the right way? This could be a possibility as to why mumma could Chuck it out?
It was also taking a very very long time to hatch it was cracked for 24hours ish with very little movement in the hatch so I’m wondering whether maybe she figured it was weak and left it? So many possibilities.

Just to also reiterate. By ‘nasty’ I just mean she’s not afraid to stand up for herself. Haha she’ll happily sit on my lap as she was hand reared but if you try and take her food or if the other ducks try and take her food she will attempt to kill you with her beak…. Haha

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Just thought of this, could it have been a predator?

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I am wondering if maybe there might be something slightly wrong ugh the young one. I’ve had this before with a duckling where it’s little legs didn’t quite seem to work in the right way? This could be a possibility as to why mumma could Chuck it out?
It was also taking a very very long time to hatch it was cracked for 24hours ish with very little movement in the hatch so I’m wondering whether maybe she figured it was weak and left it? So many possibilities.

Just to also reiterate. By ‘nasty’ I just mean she’s not afraid to stand up for herself. Haha she’ll happily sit on my lap as she was hand reared but if you try and take her food or if the other ducks try and take her food she will attempt to kill you with her beak…. Haha

I have a hen who is so mean when she is broody I have V shaped scars on my lower arm.