The Duckling who won't let me sleep!!!

[Brex]

Haha I guess there is an app for that!

Now Charlie is a bit spoilt!
He has a mirror, two rubber duckies and a feather duster!
He also has a shell necklace with tiny shells... He loves to peck at them!

Just moments ago (7pm and dark outside) I took Charlie outside for our regular bug hunt.
He gets excited and peeps a lot and I hold him up to the windows and glass doors so he can reach the moths just out of reach!

 

[mandelyn]

This happened to me with a chicken! I got some Bantam eggs from a farm, set them, and the next day, one hatched! Totally shocked! A little pullet, and it didn't take long for her to go "momma!" at me and cry if I left her. So for 21 days, I toted her around in a shoe box and kept her company. When I finally got more chicks, it took her forever to accept them, and realize she was indeed a chicken. I tried putting her with the ducklings that had hatched the week before, but that didn't go as desired.

It was fun, and cute, but never again.

Later that summer, it turned out that all 5 ducklings were girls, so I started looking for a male. Found one for free in the paper, with the tag line of "Thinks he's a poodle". He was a duckling raised by himself, and really thought he was one of the resident poodles. I had brought my favorite duck with to go pick him up, and he was afraid of her. Hid under the porch! So he got the crate on the ride home, and CB (short for her name "crooked butt" because she was the last out of the egg, and her rear end kept the shape of the egg, making her tail swing to the left permanently!) rode on the front seat on a towel, with her head draped over my arm.

It took that poor boy duck a week to figure out he had 5 girlfriends!

 

[Kaelewykoff]

I’m having the same issue!! Tractor supply doesn’t get another batch of ducklings for a few days and I can’t get any sleep I put her in the crate and she makes noises and bites at the crate to be out. Once she’s out and in my arms/ on my chest she is as happy as can be. But I can’t sleep with her like that and idk what to do until the other ducklings arrive. Plz help

 

[Miss Lydia]

Put a mirror in her brooder and a stuffed animal you could even try some happy ducklings noises probably find something on line. But a mirror will help her accept another duckling or 3 when you get them.

 

[Bb1992]

I'm currently struggling with the same problem. I have a lone duckie but I got him friends. By the time they showed up the age difference has posed an issue. So I have two separate brooders now. I have my laptop in there playing a cartoon with human voices and it helps a lot.

 

[Bb1992]

Put a mirror in her brooder and a stuffed animal you could even try some happy ducklings noises probably find something on line. But a mirror will help her accept another duckling or 3 when you get them.

I have a mirror, a stuffed duck and a little towel to snuggle. Definitely helps.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Good news for sure, they need to see and hear other ducklings since they are flock animals from hatch.

 

[ckowalik]

We have another batch of duck eggs under a broody hen, so he'll have some companions pretty soon.
Unfortunately I've looked around town (Pretty rural area) and no one seems to have any locally.

I'm currently looking for mail order day olds' but am having little luck.

Pascopol if you'd taken time to read my previous post you'd see that the imprint was not deliberate, and also that we've come to love and commit to Charlie as a pet.

If anyone has some construction advise on sleeping patterns or other solutions please respond!

Thanks!

I put my new bunny's cage where they could see and talk to each other. They can touch nose to beak. That seems to help my baby duck. I also scouted for a companion. No luck. He was injured so I took him in.

 

[Quacktavist]

Charlie is my duckling.
He imprinted on me and my Wife after hatching a little over a week ago.
Here is a picture.


For the last two nights now Charlie won't let me get HARDLY ANY SLEEP!!!

I'm not sure what a normal duck sleeping pattern is, but Charlie usually falls asleep around 9-10pm-ish and wakes up at middnight...
Then the fun starts!

Charlie will chirp and chirp until I pick him up, or play with him, or simply grunt (Which after two days of this behaviour is about all I can muster!)
I find that putting him under a cloth sometimes coaxes him to sleep for a ten or fifteen minutes, but then he's up and we start all over again!
The only other thing that stops his frantic, loud squeeking is to literally hold him in one hand till he dozes off!


I'm getting about 10mins sleep every hour after middnight till dawn... Then it's coffee Coffee COFFEE!!!

Please Help!

As to the technical details...
Charlie sleeps in a box, next to our bed.
He can see me from his box, but after laying still for a while he starts chirping...
I have a strong arm, but not strong enough to hold a duckling whilst I sleep the whole night! (Believe me I've considered it!)
Charlie chirps with growing volume and will not stop!
I love Charlie, lack of sleep won't change that.


I have a previous thread detailing more of Charlies adventures and pictures here.

It's illegal to own only 1 duck. It's inhumane.