Will he survive?

[aart]

i don’t want him to go to a rescue if he can be released here with the mom (i know it sounds selfish but we have all bonded with him and don’t want him to be gone forever)

Not sure if this is in response to my suggestion of calling someone....
But they may be able to help you know how to release it safely.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

thanks for posting that he is a little bigger now but we will monitor him for a couple days after his release and we already provide food to the mother and other baby so we think it’ll be ok!

 

[Alburner]

The longer he is with you the worse of he will be unfortunately. It may even be too late now. He really needs to go to a rehabber so they can asses wether or not he will be able to adjust to being in the wild. I just brought a week old mallard in to a rehabber last week. I loved him to pieces but if they aren’t afraid of people or at least suspicious think about hunting season, or even just punk kids. He thinks people are friends but not all people are. Since he has imprinted on you the best thing is to cut ties. Trust me I know it stinks. I hated taking my little guy but the best thing is to find a rehabber with similar aged ducklings so he will have a group when released. The prospects aren’t good for loan ducks. Especially if he ends up being a she. Male mallards will breed a loan female to death. At least that’s what I was told by the rehabbers.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

he is scared of us. we don’t hold him anymore and whenever we grab him he runs away and bites us. we aren’t worried about him adjusting to humans it’s just if he will accept other ducklings

 

[Miss Lydia]

Leave that up to the rehabbers they know how to integrate your duckling in with others . Now you need to consider what’s best for this duckling. Even if mama duck were to accept him he may still be attacked by drakes and she can’t and won’t be able to protect him. This duckling really needs someone who knows how to go about introducing him and other orphans back into the wild.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

Leave that up to the rehabbers they know how to integrate your duckling in with others . Now you need to consider what’s best for this duckling. Even if mama duck were to accept him he may still be attacked by drakes and she can’t and won’t be able to protect him. This duckling really needs someone who knows how to go about introducing him and other orphans back into the wild.

the mom is taking care of him though.

 

[Miss Lydia]

The Mallard mom has adopted him along with her own?

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

Thank you everyone for your help, we released him this morning. we will monitor him throughout the day to make sure the mom duck stays with him and if all goes well he will stay there permanently. also, we fed him this morning before release and will feed them all again before bed. the pond is locked with a gate and fence so kids can’t get in to throw rocks at them and it is also safe from most predators (a fox did get in a few weeks ago but couldn’t reach any ducks) so we hope he’ll stay safe. i’ll update again tonight.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

sorry for the bad picture but they swam away to the other side of the pond (the pond isn’t to big i just didn’t wanna chase and scare them) but the one closest to the mom is him and the other one is the moms duckling.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

the other 2 ducklings are another moms babies who just stuck around for food