I found a baby duckling today, outside my front window. I was actually perusing the SDMB (my computer faces the picture window) about 30 minutes ago when I heard frantic squeaking outside. “Oh shit, another baby sparrow I’ll try to save and it’ll die.” Nope. Duckie!!!
He tried to run a little but couldn’t get away. He was shivering (it’s only 50 degrees here today). It appears from the size that Duckie hatched today.
Our female mallard laid some eggs in the bushes and that must be where he came from, although we do have some younger female ducks. Unfortunately, the peacocks systematically chase away any other birds trying to live near the house, including the mallard.
The baby duckie is so cute!! But he’s extremely loud! I have him in a laundry basket with a heat lamp and some food and water. He keeps squeaking for his mom. Awwww! What a cute baby!!
My DD and I just returned from looking at the silly duck that built her nest in a tree. I saw a duck fly into the tree and drop something off and then fly over to sit on a tree branch. In the hollow of the tree is another duck sitting on a fluffy nest and down below at the base of the tree is one cracked egg.
I suspect the duckling might “imprint” on the original poster, thinking that’s its mom. When I was a kid, a guy across the street had a duck he’d raised from a duckling, and it followed him around like a baby following its mama.
That’s what happened to my mother and the chicken she hatched from an egg. The damn cock followed her around the yard and tried to chase off anything that came near her (dogs, cats, me)
I have a feeling if the little guy makes it ggurl is going to have a silly looking bird at her heels.
I always wanted a pet duck. Funny looking critters but in a funny looking cute sort of way.
Baby duckie is doing fine under a heat lamp with a little food and water. I also put some hay in the basket he lives in to make it more “homey”. He’s reeeeaaaallllly cuuuute!!
(There are some poo’s but not as big and gross as when he’s an adult!)
When he’s a bit bigger (and if his mother comes out of hiding) I plan to stick him back under his mother. If that doesn’t work, when the baby geese hatch, hopefully I can stick him under one of the mother geese.
If that doesn’t work, then I’m going to have a very large pet duck. Quack!
Lol! Is there somewhere online that I can put up pics for free? I have a Kodak digital camera and I think they have a site or something; if I ever get time to figure it out, I might post some.
Suckie is still doing great! He’s kinda stressed out though… I don’t think a laundry basket is the optimal habitat for a baby Duckie. His Mom hasn’t come back either, so it looks like sticking him under the mother goose might be the outcome. I’ll keep you posted.
I used to have a pet duck when I lived out in the country. We named him John Deere, after the tractor, but then John Deere turned out to be a girl, and so became J.D. She was a Peking duck and lived in the house with us. She’d chase you all through the house, quacking the whole while, and slept in her own cage at night. We had limited success in house-training her, but if you don’t mind cleaning up duck poop, it’s not too bad.
J.D. liked to sit beside my uncle while he watched football. One time he was eating a chicken leg and she jumped up and starting nibbling flesh off the bone. My uncle cackled loudly, “Yer eatin’ yer cousin!” but J.D. didn’t seem to mind. Them ducks have a lot of personality considering their brains are about the size of a walnut.
We ended up giving J.D. to a neighbor when I went off to college. She still lives in their house and is the apple of their eye. Their kids adore her. Our neighbor brings her to visit every so often. That duck’s got a pretty sweet life.
Cool story, Mississippienne. None of our ducks have that much personality - just lots of quacking, sex, and hatching. And swimming.
There is another twist to the Baby Duckie saga - I went home for lunch today to tend to him - and he was gone!!! :eek: I have no idea how a 3-inch tall duck with, like, 1/2 inch long legs climbed out of a laundry basket. And no, we have no predatory house pets. For a bizarre second, I imagined the guinea pigs escaping from their cage, then helping Duckie make his exit.
Needless to say, I crawled around on the floor during my entire lunch break, searching for a tiny crevice where Duckie may have disappeared. Nothing.
Duckie’s Mom did return, with five or six siblings for him. I discovered he was missing when I ran to grab him and return him to his family. that’s the ironic part about his disappearance.
Maybe when I get home from work, he will be out in the open somewhere, or at least peep enough times that I can find him.
