Topic: Urgent help needed re ducklings

[Yellow Petals]

I have rescued two ducklings who are obviously really, really young and abandoned.  I have them in a decent sized box with several comfy layers, near (but not to near) a heater and I've put in some mushed up break/milk and some water.

Is there anything I need to do?  Need to feed them?  A duck breeder I managed to speak to at work today said they will eat pretty much anything but I don't remember telling her how young they are so I want to be sure.

Am about to ring the RSPCA and hopefully they will come and get them tonight or tomorrow.

And before anybody asks, yes they were abandoned.

Thanks

[mat]

instructions for if they are just a few days old:

As you are, keep them inside the house. feed them dampened chick mash from a pet store.  until you can get that, hard boil an egg and feed them that mashed with a bit of crushed bread.  You will need to show them how to feed by tapping with your finger in the food. only keep the food in the box until they are fed up with it.  feed small amounts several times a day.  once a few weeks old, 3 times a day will be sufficient

give them water at all times.  they will make a real mess of it (as they will with the food)

water must be in a shallow container, because the feathers will initially not be able to shed water

keep them in a cardboard box on newspaper initially - they made a LOT of mess

if you rear them, you will need to introduce them to swimming gradually - water gradually deeper and for gradually longer periods.

they will grow VERY fast, and it is the mess they make which will force you to start keeping them outside ;)

I have always had 100% success rate with ducklings, so if I can, its not hard  ;)

you'll need to send us a picture!

good luck and enjoy - they are LOADS of fun

mat

[Yellow Petals]

Hi Mat,

Thank you so much for your reply.  I didn't manage to get a picture because the RSPCA turned up a couple of hours later - and I hadn't dared disturb them since one leapt out of my hand and shot off across the house!  They snuggled in the corner and went to sleep together.  They were beautiful. 

RSPCA man said they were lucky to still be alive  :'(  but has taken them off to a place in Grays called the South Essex Wildlife Hospital (with, I might add, one of my jumpers and a bath towel that were in the bottom of the box!) So hopefully a happy ending  :D

[mat]

I am pleased the RSPCA was helpful in your instance.  I had a sick hedgehog in my garden and they didn't want to know.  I did all I could but it died two days later  :'(

Many years ago... when I was 15 we were camping down in South Devon, I went to the cattle market one day (sad, but I loved them) and they had a poultry fair; day old Aylesbury ducklings were being sold.  I pleaded with mum to let me have some (we lived in the centre of Oxford, but owned a few sheep plus other "oddities") so on our way home from holiday, we looked up the farm who was selling them and went and bought 4 day old Aylesbury ducklings.  They sat in a box on my lap during the many hours home and much to everyones surprise they all survived and were fantastic.

The farm I later worked on in Herefordshire borders used to occasionally have ducklings abandoned in the grain silo outlet - mum jumped down to feed, ducklings followed, mum got out, ducklings couldn't... mum would abandon them. They were all mallards/crosses and although I later left the farm, they would deliver them, I would rear them and release them on the Thames.

The ducklings will be fine now  :D

mat

[Marianne]

This also reminds me of my own story.  Years ago, we were driving on a back road and came across 3 of the smallest duckling we had ever seen.  They were trying to climb up the verge, so we stopped round the corner and ran back to help them.  We managed to see but one as the others had hidden in the vegetation.  We took the duckling home and fed/watered it.  We also let her swim in our bath.  Unfortunately, we fed her maggots which did not do her any good and so off to the vet who said the maggots had eaten all her calcium or something like that.

Anyway, she grew up to be a beautififul female mallard but was unhappy with humans.  We found her a sanctuary somewhere in Essex.  It was terrible parting with her but we knew it was for her good.  A while later, we heard that the man who took her in had a personal problem as his wife had suddenly died and he was unconsolable.  We went to see if we could help but he had disappeared with all the injured/disabled birds, etc.  Still today, I wonder where he could have gone, and mostly, what has happened to my darling duckling.   :'( :'( :'(