Haven't been on in a while, so hello again. Anyway, in a bit of a situation and need some advise. Background: Put a big bird box about 4-5m up a huge ash tree last year in the hope of attracting some kind of bird other than your usual garden bird.......anyhoo, manage to attract a duck.......I know, crazy right? Found two ducklings this in the garden this afternoon, one was trying to make it out to the road so diverted it towards my carp pond. Put his brother/sister in there too and have left the garden undisturbed. The mother has not returned for them since.....had she already left without them? Not sure they'd survive without the mother.....what should I do? I've tried phoning local wildlife rescue and RSPB but had no response from either. Sorry to post on here buts it's the only forum I'm a member of and have no social media accounts.
I don’t think the mother will come back. She goes off to water when she’s ready and they have to follow or be stranded, like your two.
I've rescued them for the night, they have heat, food and water. I'll try get them re-homed tomorrow, otherwise my kids might get attached to them. Cheers peeps
We had a duck abandon her 7 ducklings a few years ago in the field near us after she was disturbed - took them to the local wildfowl trust at Martin Mere. They regularly raise abandoned ducklings and took them in.
I hope there are no more duck families in the carp pond. They don't like other chicks. Several years ago the security staff at the firm I worked for, found a duck family wandering around the car park. Being nice kind people they brought them into the garden pond to live with another duck family there. It was utter carnage! Every day the adult ducks would chase the "foreign" chicks around the pond, and every morning there would be another chick dead. It was quite distressing to witness. Vicious!
I raised an abandoned mallard duckling when I was younger, it's quite a rewarding experience. 'Layers mash' like what you feed chickens is a good start, plus chicken corn when they get a bit older. A hot water bottle in a box with some hay bedding, and a swim around the kitchen sink until they get too big and need to go in the bath.
