when can i safely take a pekin duck baby away from its mama?

[Kira86]

I candled a couple eggs when fufa, our pekin mama duck, got off her nest this morning. One is in the internal piping stage. (im so excited) but how long after they hatch do i have to wait til i can get one? I want one to imprint on me and got a little dog carrying purse with those hunting warmers to put in it to keep the duckling warm. Ive even bought the duck diapers. Its so cute. He or she is going to be our inside pet. Does anyone know?

 

[jak2002003]

Are you sure you want to do that?

I think its mean to take the duckling away from its mother. Can't you just let the mother raise the baby? It will still get really tame if you hand feed it special treats and it will be less work for you letting the mother raise the duckling.

Do you really want to be changing the duck diaper up to 80 times a day for the rest of its life - which can be nearly 10 years?

You can pick it up and cuddle it, even if its with its mother. A single duck will be very unhappy and lonely when ever you need to leave it alone, like when you need to go to work.

Duck love being outdoors, dappling in the mud and water and sunbathing, swimming and diving. They won't be happy living in a house in a dog crate alone.

 

[Kira86]

Ive tried to do that with the ones i have now. I got 2 when they were a week old. A couple months after that, a dog got hold of one, donald, so we got 2 more ducks to keep Daisy happy. They never let me pet them or anything tho after donald died and we bought fufa and woody, daisy began letting only me pet her. Not sure what i did but was really happy. Lol that only lasted a couple weeks and now she wont let me come near her without running away. The others are kind of the same way. so i thought if i carried it in the little purse carrier for a cpl weeks and keep it warm, like you would under a heat lamp, that the baby would get attached to us, at least me. (Not to be selfish but....) after the first few weeks id take him or her out to see/play with the other ducks and then after about a month or so, id let him/her stay out there with them if it wanted. ???? At least itd have a good bond with me and let me love on him/her. My ducks now are pets. I built them a little house for winter time that looks like mine. Im going to put a small heat lamp in there to keep it warm for them. I dug a big kid pool into the ground out in front of it and clean/change the water everyday. They also have a small kiddy pool in our front yard. (Thats where fufas been nesting, up in the bushes) i go out there and talk to them at least 9, 10 times a day. I smoke and we dont smoke inside. Its cute cause woody talks back to me sometimes. Lol they wont let me pet them and love on them tho and thats what i want. I researched it alot and ducks make great indoor pets. But like i said, i want him/her to be both. Am i doing something wrong or do you have any suggestions as to what i could do to get them to let me pet them? I do hand feed them bananas and tomatos. Thats the only time i can actually touch em before they run. Lol (try to be sneaky. Hehe)