It's slipped my mine to post about this but since i just remembered i figure i better ask while it's fresh on my mind. Do any of you have experience with ducklings? Over the past few weeks we have had quite a few little flocks (is that the right term?) of infant ducklings come into our shelter. The majority have been brought in by people who have seen them near the road and wanted to move them to keep them safe. Anytime we get a call like that we usually tell them to just scoot them over into a safe area and leave them there for the momma (if they box them up and take them to our shelter it makes it sooooo hard to reunite them with the mom! some people just do not listen!) When we get ducklings who are old enough in- we take them to our local ponds/lakes and sneak them into the nests of mother ducks with ducklings in similar ages whe she's not looking -they always seem to accept them that way. There have been several rare occassions however where we've not had any success with that. It has been YEARS since i've had ducks (when i was a very small girl i grew up on a farm- so while i had some then, i remember nothing about proper care for them). I took several home with me last week and then was able later in the week to find a momma to take them.
I'm wondering though- what to do when i get the VERY small ones into the shelter- (the ones we had still had the yellow/brown down feathers). What is the best thing to feed them?? (the only thing we had in the shelter was canned cat and dog food, and bread and crackers so we tried small amounts of that just to give them a little something to eat.) we also filled up a litter pan with water for them to swim in and made a little "nest" in one of the kennels with hay and soft things for them. I'm sure that's not ideal so that's why i'm wondering what to do in case we get any more small ducklings in (we seem to be getting several a week at the moment). What is the best way to keep them warm? What is the best food? ANYTHING else ya'll can think of to add- i remember nothing about proper care for ducklings. Any links or advice would be of great help to me and my coworkers. Our speciality is cats and dogs, not ducklings- so i want to make sure we do everything right when we get wildlife like that in. Thanks!
I'm wondering though- what to do when i get the VERY small ones into the shelter- (the ones we had still had the yellow/brown down feathers). What is the best thing to feed them?? (the only thing we had in the shelter was canned cat and dog food, and bread and crackers so we tried small amounts of that just to give them a little something to eat.) we also filled up a litter pan with water for them to swim in and made a little "nest" in one of the kennels with hay and soft things for them. I'm sure that's not ideal so that's why i'm wondering what to do in case we get any more small ducklings in (we seem to be getting several a week at the moment). What is the best way to keep them warm? What is the best food? ANYTHING else ya'll can think of to add- i remember nothing about proper care for ducklings. Any links or advice would be of great help to me and my coworkers. Our speciality is cats and dogs, not ducklings- so i want to make sure we do everything right when we get wildlife like that in. Thanks!