The wild is a dangerous place for animals, it is more dangerous for animals that are naturally smaller and even more dangerous for animals that are both young and small, namely ducklings.
Ducklings are usually protected by their mother, but if ducklings become separated from their mother then these animals can get into danger very quickly. This article explores what to do in this situation
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Ducklings separated from their mother:
The mother duck is a duckling’s only line of defense against predators and is also who keeps ducklings eating and drinking. The father duck is not around so if the ducklings lose their mother they have no one.
Here is what to do if you find a separated duckling:
Is the bird really separated?
If you find an abandoned duckling the bird may not be abandoned at all, it may simply be separated from its mother.
Look around to see if this duckling simply wandered away and if its family is close by. Keep an eye on the bird for a while, a mother that is in earshot will return to take her duckling if she can.
Ducks see humans as predators so hanging around the duckling may scare the mother off. Keep your distance away from the duckling and give the mother space to come to get her baby.
If you’ve kept your distance and have waited to see if the mother is coming back, and the mother is not coming back, then you can assume that she purposely abandoned her duckling or that she was killed
Examine the bird:
Once you’ve established that the bird is indeed an orphan you can do an exam on the bird to assess its condition.
Check to see if the bird is able to stand or walk on its own or if it is injured and can’t stand or walk on its own. The bird may have been attacked so check for blood or wounds on the bird’s body.
Check to see if the bird is cold to the touch or if the bird seems tired, sleepy, or fluffed up. These are all bad signs.
Treating the bird:
Start off by gently picking the bird up and placing it in a cardboard box. Ensure that the cardboard box that you use is big enough for the bird to freely walk around in.
Be very gentle when picking the bird up and gently talk to the bird as you do this, you look like a big predator to the bird so you don’t want it to become stressed when picking it up.
Keep this cardboard box in a dark and quiet room to keep the bird from becoming stressed. Put an old towel at the bottom of the box to soften the bottom for the bird.
Ducklings need a heat source to maintain their body temperature because their adult feathers haven’t grown in yet. These young birds cannot regulate their body temperature so they need help doing this.
You can use a heat lamp or a heat plate as a heat source for your ducklings. Set the heat pad to low, this will be enough to keep the duckling warm
Avoid giving the bird any food and water while in the box
Contact your local wildlife rehabilitation center as soon as you can. Contacting them, and having them take the duckling in, is recommended over trying to take on the responsibility of raising a duckling when you aren’t prepared to
In addition, taking in migratory waterfowl without a valid permit is not legal, contact your local rehab center to see if it is legal to keep the duckling or not
Laws may differ from city to city and country to country so check with your local laws to see what they say about ducks and ducklings.
Keep in mind:
The mother duck may have been killed and this may be why the duckling was left orphaned but a duck mother may have abandoned her duckling on purpose
A duck mother will abandon her duckling if there is something wrong with the bird and the mother can tell that the bird isn’t going to be able to survive regardless of what she does
If this is the case then your duckling will die regardless of what you do. If your duckling quickly dies then this may be why the bird died.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other duck related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: How To Stop Ducks From Pooping On The Driveway, Aggressive Female Duck Behavior, Will Ducks Adopt Other Ducks?, Do Ducks Drown Other Ducks?