Separated ducklings

[vormav]

Hi! A Muscovy duck chose my backyard to have her ducklings (there are a bunch of ducks in the area, they show up everyday); it's been almost a week since they hatched and so far there's been no problems, until today.

I noticed that two (of the ten) ducklings stayed behind when the flock left the backyard this morning, and they have been mostly sleeping together. Since then, the mother and siblings have come and left a couple times, but these two have stayed. Should I be worried for them?

I don't give much care to them, aside from leaving some food and water outside and helping the ocasional duckling that gets lost back to the flock. I'm worried that they might be sick: the mother chose a very poor location for the nest (only accesible to her, they haven't used it since they left) and she sleeps in the open with the ducklings under her wing. Yesterday there was some intense rain and it was pretty cold outside.

I don't know if I'm worrying prematurely or if there is something I can or should do for them.

 

[fatty and friends]

grab them and take them to a rehabilitation center, they won’t survive alone if they can’t keep up with their mother

 

[Miss Lydia]

When mama comes back are they happy to see everyone? Other than taking them in yourself or get in touch with a rehabber not much you can do. I don't thnk it's normal for week old ducklings to stay behind when the mama leaves. My Muscovy keep their ducklings with them constantly when that young.

 

[SolarDuck]

How big are they? If they are still smaller than like a guinea pig I wouldn't let them spend any time away from their mom. I don't know if you live somewhere where they are highly invasive like they are here in Florida, but if you are wildlife rehabs might not be interested. Unless you live somewhere like Central America where they aren't invasive domestics and are truly wild, you could take them in and have them as pets or try to find a good home for them, perhaps an animal shelter. My local SPCA will take domestic ducks and find them good homes.