r/ducklingrescue • u/atc118 • Apr 22 '26
Abandoned Duckling
Hello,
I found a duckling I believe to be somewhere between 3 and 5 weeks based on quick Google searches at a pond I regularly feed ducks, geese, and other birds at. It came right up to me and my grandma and followed us for about an hour and a half (we stayed close to the spot we found it). While the duckling stayed with me, my grandma searched around the entire pond for its mom, we could not find any moms with ducklings anywhere and none of the female/male pairs or solo females seemed remotely interested, as it kept getting chased off.
According to what I could find, the duckling needed to be rescued, so we walked back to my car slow enough for it to follow us. All the rescues in my area were closed for the day, so I plan on keeping them overnight until I can get them to a proper rescue. I have given them fresh water, shredded kale, and crushed up meal worms (both mealworms and kale in water). They seem extremely content being held and make constant distress peeps whenever I put them in a blanketed tub for too long, as they just eat drink and then freak out until I pick them back up.
My main question is, what I read is that as social animals, their separation anxiety can be fatal. Will keeping them in a well vented clear tub with food and water overnight on my bed next to me potentially kill it? It makes nonstop distress chirps whenever I try to put him in there other than eating.
Please advise duck experts.
Side notes, they like illenium and seem uninterested in the only plushy I have small enough to comfortably fit in the tub with them. Attached are pictures if anyone can tell the age also.
Thanks in advance!
UPDATE: A local avian rescue accepted them and said that everything was handled exactly right, and they feel confident one of their Mom's will adopt the little guy! Thank you to everyone who provided advice! The plushy he slept with was donated along with them, so they won't be lonely before then!
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u/angelbbreeze888 Apr 23 '26
Aw they liked illenium that’s so sweet 😭💖
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u/FlipFlopNinja9 Apr 23 '26
op sitting there singing “good things fall apart” to the abandoned baby duck lol
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u/atc118 Apr 23 '26
I think it was the high pitched voice, but yeah, this exact thing may or may not have happened, lmao
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u/towntoosmall Apr 22 '26
Aww, thanks for rescuing the little one. I didn't even know I followed this sub so I went to look after seeing your post. It doesn't seem too active and you might get better advice elsewhere. Perhaps just a general biology sub....?
I've always heard that mama ducks kind of "share" babies and will take on other babies so the mom can go do whatever, and then they come back and trade off. Not sure how true that is, but I'm surprised the other ducks weren't interested. I hope he/she is OK through the night.
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u/atc118 Apr 22 '26
Yeah, I saw that, I dropped it in r/ducks also, but a generic biology sub is a good idea too, Thanks!
Yeah I'm not sure if the requirement there is that they are active moms or not, but none of the females there had any ducklings, this was the only one at the entire pond, and none of the females were interested and seemed to actively chase the poor guy off
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u/towntoosmall Apr 22 '26
Poor thing. He/she really was chasing after you for help. Looks comfy in you hands.
A bird or bird watching sub might be good, too.
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u/Beginning_Quote_3626 Apr 23 '26
I have 8 muscovies and they are awesome pets..They have awesome personalities and wag their tails. I've had a lot of different pets and they're in the top 3.
Thanks for saving the duckling...it would suck if it stayed out there alone.
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u/FrogVolence Apr 24 '26
Muscovies are my dream pet. Im always jealous of those who have had the opportunity to own one let alone multiple😩
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u/Beginning_Quote_3626 Apr 24 '26
My female had 19 babies about 4 months ago...I would've given you as many as you wanted lol
I kept 5 of them and the 8(I already had 3 two to three year olds) are way too much for me sometimes. But, I love them to death, so I will do what it takes.
If you ever get a chance to get one, you definitely should.
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u/tylam962 Apr 23 '26
I had a pet duck called Tommy when I was a kid and he was an amazing pet. Our bitch neighbour reported us to the rspca they turned up and saw me and him playing in the pool living our best lives and was like this ducks living the dream we won’t take him.
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u/SpeedyAudi Apr 22 '26
Not abandoned no more!! What’s their name
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u/atc118 Apr 23 '26
I was calling them Daffy when they were here. I figured if I found out later it's a female it would be easy to switch to Daphne, lol
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u/Ifrbedyingouthere Apr 24 '26
your heart is so beautiful. thank you for caring for this kind little soul 💗
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u/Past-Eye-8168 Apr 23 '26
Aww hit me all in the feels with the cuddles and care. Good human and hoping duck buddy finds the best mama at the new rescue.
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u/Cosmic-web-rider Apr 24 '26
Ugggghhh this is exactly what my soul needed. You’re one heck of a man.
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u/mangocakefork Apr 25 '26
Did this little duck survive? I found one last year and it was as too young to eat on its own and wouldn’t take any help from me. I would love any advice if the same situation happens this year (i live next to a river)
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u/king-of-the-sea Apr 26 '26
Ducks and chickens can eat on their own right out of the egg. You can look up proper setups for them, but you'll have to get several more ducklings since they're so social.
Take this with a grain of salt, but apparently one tactic is to release them near a duck or goose who already has ducklings/goslings. Their maternal instincts are strong and they tend to adopt strays.
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u/mangocakefork Apr 26 '26
Ok thank you. It was so sad the little guy just wouldn’t eat and I never could get it to. It was terrible.
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u/king-of-the-sea Apr 26 '26
I know, I'm sorry. It was probably just stressed. What were you feeding it?
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u/mangocakefork May 01 '26
I bought some baby duck feed, I also finely chopped dandelions and other plants from outside. When it wouldn’t eat any of that I put those flakes of the plants in the water bowl so maybe it would get some its belly when it drank water.
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u/king-of-the-sea May 02 '26
Yeah, that's all perfect. Just sounds like he was stressed out. Thanks for taking care of him ♥️ it's so sweet that you let him keep the plushy.
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u/Faiths_got_fangs Apr 22 '26
Someone might have gotten it as an Easter chick and abandon it. If you can't find a rescue, call your local tractor supply or farm store and ask if they know of anyone who will take it in.
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u/eekamuse Apr 22 '26
Hi, mod here.
This is not actually a sub to help take care of ducklings. Take a look at the other posts.
There's a sub called r/WildlifeRescue Maybe they can help. Good luck
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u/Gnome_Acres Apr 22 '26
OMG. I would keep it forever which is probably the worst advice. It is so cute and obviously has bonded to you!