Wild Swedish Ducks...

[firejillie]

So last year, I met a wild duck that seemed... a little... off. She hung out with the local geese and was helping them with their goslings. We named her Quackers. Fall came, and she left with the other migrating birds. Well, this year she came back. After some intensive googling, I discovered she was a Swedish Blue. And that she was supposed to be a domestic duck - not wild.

She did manage to 'hook-up' with a mallard, (My backyard is a very large marshland/creek.) and has one beautiful baby following her around. The 'baby' is nearly full grown at this point, and looks like a Black Swedish - so far no mallard traits are really coming through.

So the issue is - these ducks are supposed to be domestic, not wild. They have been hanging out in my yard about 80% of the time, and seem to be hungry. They approach me and cheep or quack as if they are trying desperately to tell me something. And I'm growing attached. Also, I'm worried about natural predators, like snakes, cats, heron, etc.

So I am building a duck coop. It's going to be 30"x18", 24" high in the front sloping to 18" in the back, with a hinged roof and sawdust bedding. And 18" off the ground. I don't plan to fence them it, but I'm planning to encourage them to use it for sleeping and shelter.

If anyone has any advice for supplemental feed, (I read the master list of duck treats, so I have a bit of a starting place) or any other general advice on what to expect, please let me know!

 

[firejillie]

^^ This is Quackers ^^

 

[firejillie]

These are of Quackers and Quackers' Baby:

 

[duck boy mo]

The part that interests me is the fact she flew. They can't usually. If she is doing fine in the wild then i think that's great! The local lakes have a few wild domestic ducks so they can handle it. Really the predators id be worried about are raccoons. I see no way to protect them without penning them up. i wouldn't really feed them but just treats. My advice is to enjoy them but let them stay wild

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

What likely happened is someone dumped a blue Swedish, the Swedish bred with a mallard and then you got her. Can fly and such, but looks like a Swedish.
She looks a lot like her baby (whose just a dark - looking blue Swedish) so the chances of her being a mallard cross is likely.
Leave them be. If you want you can feed them duck food, but if she truly is a mallard Swedish then letting her stay wild is no different then letting a tamer mallard be wild (and could be considered illegal even, though Im not so sure)

 

[firejillie]

I didn't know about Blue's not being able to fly! I just assumed she did because I didn't see her from about November until March. Now I'll keep an eye out!! I'm building a hen house for them because they seem to want a shelter - they come up and hang out under my steps. I'm mostly making them a nice place to sleep. And I don't have the option of leaving them alone - they won't leave me alone!! They want to play with my dog and dance in my sprinkler and run up to me and "talk" to me until I talk back! I wouldn't be even considering feeding them if they looked like they were doing alright on their own, but they don't really seem to be. So I'm trying to lend a non-obtrusive hand, and see how they take to it.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Well that's sweet of you a lot of people will take in orphaned Canadian geese and that's all they need to do and they keep pestering them! Lol
A shelter for them won't hurt. And of course if they seem sick or ill won't hurt to help
Best of luck with them!

 

[duck boy mo]

Hey on the plus side, free ducks. If you get them to sleep in the coop i would make it so you can latch it shut at night. In a confined space like that its easier for predators to corner them

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are beautiful ducks and since they aren't full bred wild mallards and look more domestic and seem to be asking for help they are probably needing it, I be friended some Mixed ducks on year someone dumped in our Mt. river, poor things were starving After a few weeks of feeding them I was able to bring them home, all 3 were drakes but I kept them till I could find them a good home, Since I already had drakes. Be sure to make their house as pred proof as you can. lots of good air flow too, sounds like your doing a wonderful thing for them. So many domesticated ducks are dumped each year with people thinking they can make it, but most domesticated ducks can't fly so they are so much more prone to predator attacks. You have been blessed to have had these 2 come to live with you. also most domesticated don't really know how to fend for themselves since they we feed by humans previously before being dumped.

 

[firejillie]

Those are my exact concerns! She doesn't really seem to know what she's doing - everything she knows she learned from the geese last year. This is what we made:


And some extra pictures because they're just so stinkin' cute!!