How do you care for a duckling?

Thank you @RandolphOcampo. We’ve given it some lettuce and it has water. We’ll go and look for mum and dad again tomorrow morning.

Could you post a pic? It might be helpful to know which age range it belongs to.

Here you go. A photo of the duckling, with its lettuce.

He’s cute.

He is. He’s been jumping around in his box. I feel bad that we can’t find his mum and dad.

Do you live in a place where you can keep him if you choose to?

We could, but I don’t have any other birds and we have dogs and a cat. I don’t think it would work out. Apparently, it won’t go to sleep unless my daughter keeps her hand in its box with it. He snuggles up to her hand and goes to sleep.

One of the guys in a neighboring machine shop found a very young duckling after a storm. The duckling “imprinted” on him and would follow him around when he walked the area. It was so cute!

We’ve put a furry, warm hot water bottle in his box and he’s fast asleep.

Cute, cute, cute! I’ve sent your question to an experienced vet assistant, hopefully she’ll have some tips.

Don’t feed him animal quackers.

Seriously, you need to let him back into the wild fairly soon. You don’t want him to get too used to people (and having food served) because that will ill-prepare him for going back out into the wild. He’s looking for his mother.

I know @elbanditoroso. We’ve been out looking. We’ve seen ducks, but they don’t have any ducklings and they flew away. We’re going to call our local radio stations to ask people locally if they see ducks to call us. I’d really rather see it back with a duck family than take it to the RSPCA.

And @augustlan, it is the cutest little thing! My daughter didn’t get much sleep because it kept her awake and she had to keep filling his hot water bottle. She’s just taken him around the garden to see if his chirps will attract any ducks.

How about contacting any local wildlife rescue groups? Maybe he could get adopted by another duck, if they do that kind of thing?

Waldo update. I’ve called the local wildlife rescue people and they’re going to find him a carer. We found ducks in the area, but they flew off before we could get close.

That’s what I’ve done @longgone. He’s very resilient and seems quite healthy, so hopefully they’ll find someone to care for him until he can be released.

Oh, he’s cute for sure!

Hope he finds a friendly family.

@Earthbound_Misfit
Been following baby’s progress. So glad it waddled itself to you. You saved it’s life. I’m very relieved it all worked out so very well. Thank you for your kindness and helping it. ~ :)

He looks like wood duck duckling; my understanding from our local rehabber is that they have a higher mortality rate that other babies that come into their care (not sure why).

You need to find a wildlife rehabilitator, rather than your vet. (Unless you can happen upon the adults w/clutch, the baby will have no chance of survival if you just put him back out on his own.)

In the meantime, if you have a heat lamp that you can place over one side of his enclosure, that would help. And if you happen to have a feather duster in the house, shake it out really well and place it near him – it’s incredibly cute when they snuggle up.

If you have a farm supply store nearby (“feed and seed”), any rehabber would be happy to receive a bag of chick feed to help offset the cost of raising wildlife.

Hi @syz, I’ve been in touch with our local wildlife rescue people. They’ve told me where to take it so we’ll get it there shortly. We put a warm, hot water bottle in with him and he was happy to snuggle up with it.

I wouldn’t just let him go. I was hoping to find parents with ducklings, but that didn’t work out. So he’s going to have to be adopted.

Thanks for coming and giving some input.

I’m going to forward this to @Coloma. She’s raised geese for years, and most likely some ducks too.

We took Waldo to the RSPCA. There was a lady there who has domestic ducks, with ducklings, she was going to take him home once the vets had checked him out. We haven’t heard anything to say the vets visit went badly, so I’d guess he is now happily snuggled up to his adoptive brothers and sisters. We’ll miss him. He had his own little personality.

Aawww- I’m so glad. You made my day! Thanks to you and your family! Word might get out! Keep the towels and water bottle handy! This is so great. You all made such a difference. Thank you. :) Hugs.

Yes, follow @syz advice. The baby needs to be kept very warm, as he is still in the downy phase with no feathering yet. Keep temp around 90–95 degrees with a heat lamp, hung high enough to warm him but not low enough to overheat him. The temp is reduced by about 5 degrees a week during the first month or so.
If he is huddled under the lamp he is too cold, if he moves away to a corner he is too warm.

Take the lettuce up, not a proper diet, and get a bag of un-medicated chick starter at your local feed/farm/ranch supply and contact your local wildlife rehab asap. Remove any wet and mashed up feed and replace with fresh every few hours to avoid bacterial contamination. Place his water near the feed, waterfowl must have drinking water to swallow their feed. Watch the towel bedding, his little toenails might become stuck so something like paper towels might be better if you don’t have any pine shavings or hay on hand.

You can put a feather duster in with him or a stuffed duck toy as well as a mirror if you have one. Mirrors help singletons recognize their own kind if raised solo.
No grains or corn scratch either, only the starter feed for the first couple months.
Let us know how he is and if you find him a rescue home.

Also…very important, do not swim the duckling. Mother ducks groom their ducklings/goslings with their own protective oils from their oil glands at the base of their tails. Orphaned babies have no water resistance and will become water logged and sink. They will also be subject to chill without their mothers to huddle under. IF you were to try and raise this baby yourself he could only be given very warm swimming water and then must be thoroughly dried to avoid chilling.