O/T Anyone have experience raising a baby duck??
Yesterday morning my DH called me in a panic. He was on a busy highway and there was a baby duck running in and out from underneath peoples cars. A huge oil tanker stopped traffic because he spotted it. DH jumped out of his van and chased this poor little thing until he caught it. There were no other ducks in sight. DH drove around for a couple of hours looking for its family but its a big industrial area so its just trucks everywhere. He brought me the baby duck and I went and bought it a heat lamp and some food from the local feed store. Now it is living in a big plastic bin in my living room. The woman at the store said its about a week old. Its very sweet and loves to cuddle in my sweatshirt and go to sleep. I guess they sell ducks at the store so its not uncommon to have them.
So what do I do with this duck? I know they do not like to be alone. He has been crying out for his mommy. The kids absolutely love it to death. I do live on a lake so its a good location for him when he is to be released. The problem is he is going to get big and I want him to be able to live on his own. We had him outside for a couple of minutes yesterday running around on the grass and he made a beeline right for the lake and jumped in!! We grabbed him and dried him off and put him back under his heat lamp. I'm sure he just wants to be back with his family. I feel bad for him.
Should I find a rehabilitator to bring him to or should I try to raise him myself? I don't have a garage, just an old disgusting, dirty shed that is infested with scary spiders. We do have lots of wildlife around like this fox that comes by and lots of raccoons and coyotes.
Advice please!!!
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How adorable! See if you have
How adorable!
See if you have any wildlife centers/rehabbers near you--it really is the best if what you intend on doing is to release it into the wild.
I am not sure if ducks count as migratory birds so it may even be illegal where you are to keep them (if it's not the domesticated kind.)
Anyway, good luck!
I agree with the two posters
I agree with the two posters above. If you want to eventually release it into the wild, that will be difficult if you hand raise it as a pet. He won't know how to fend for himself in the wild.
If you want to keep him as a pet and raise him, check with the store that sold you the feed and I'm sure they can give you all the info you need (or simply google "how to raise a baby duck"). Just know that since you do live on a lake, it's possible that even if he's a pet duck, he may just decide to take off one day.
Good luck and let me know if you need anything. I just helped my husband rescue 6 baby raccoons out of a friend's chimney this past weekend. The mom raccoon came for them in the middle of the night and took them all to a new place.
Baby raccoons are so
Baby raccoons are so adorable!!! I think I am going to call the bird lady that took my English sparrow for those 2 weeks. She is a bird rehabilitator. I'll see what she says. I'm pretty sure she would just keep it in a cage then eventually release it somewhere. I figured I could make it a pen outside with a dog house type thing to go inside at night. Then eventually he would just take off on his own and maybe come visit once in a while! It sounds good but who knows. He is really cute though!
The babies we rescued were
The babies we rescued were soooooo cute but snarling and growling and scared. I felt horrible for them but so happy to learn their momma came back for them.
Ducks are adorable. I hope the best for the little guy!
oh my god I saw that picture
oh my god I saw that picture today. DH wants a duck so bad, he wants to name it Mr Quackers lol
Isn't it the cutest thing
Isn't it the cutest thing ever!!! The kids are in love with it, especially DD11 because she is a huge animal lover. She has big dreams of raising this duck to be her best friend and him living on the lake and wanting to stay with us forever!!
The kids are insisting its a girl even though you can't tell until its older. So I am sure they are making up some crazy names for it.
Don't let your SD near it. I
Don't let your SD near it. I remember her "kill" rate with other pets.
LOL!! She offered to let it
LOL!! She offered to let it "live" in her room. Yeah right, over my dead body!! I am keeping it near me so I can keep a close eye on it. It needs to be protected from SD and the dogs!!
Too bad IdentityCrisis in on
Too bad IdentityCrisis in on vacation. I think she raised some....?
When is she coming back?? I
When is she coming back?? I know someone here had a goat!! I can't remember who it was though.
I've raised ducks. When they
I've raised ducks. When they were little I kept them in a rabbit cage with a heat lamp in my livingroom, if you change their shavings every other day they don't smell. Just lay newspaper or a tarp nder the cage because they tend to knock shavings out of the cage lol. I used to let them swim in the bathtub and once more than half of their baby feathers were gone I moved them outside. I just made a cage, like a dog run out of wood posts and chicken wire. They had a small house to go in at night and a small plastic toddler pool to swim in. you do have to change the water once a week.
But I've had them free-range too, we live on a swamp. They honestly did fine, they eat bugs out of the grass, generally stuck near the house and came back to their home every night even though by morning they were out in back playing in the swamp and the long grass. If you keep their coop (it can be a dog house with hay inside it) up close to your house wild animals will generally leave them alone because they won't get too close to a human dwelling. And if it's a girl you'll get eggs.
But you're right, they don't like to be alone. When you buy chicks you need proof of having others at home or you have to buy them 3 at a time. I know here in MA if you don't buy the ducklings at a store you have to let the town and animal control know that you've rescued a wild duckling or they could fine you later for trapping and domesticating wild ducks.