Over the last few weeks, my family has been noticing a duck hanging out in our backyard. Now we have determined that this duck has made a nest.
We live in suburban Atlanta, in a traditional neighborhood. We have a fenced backyard, so the duck is safe from dogs and such. But there is no body of water anywhere nearby.
And today I have verfied that there are at least a half dozen eggs in the nest under mama duck.
My kids have been absolutely fascinated by all of this. But now I’m wondering what will happen when the ducklings hatch. I suspect we may have a half dozen ducklings running around our backyard in some matter of time.
Since these are wild ducks, perhaps I just shouldn’t be concerned, and let nature take its course. But I wouldn’t mind assisting nature and helping make sure these ducklings and their mother have the best shot at survival.
Any suggestions on what I might do to help? Will the mama duck be able to get sufficient food to feed the ducklings? Is there some food I can make available for them? How long will they incubate?
Thoughts and suggestions welcome.
How wonderful! How young are your kids?
If you ever wanted to add a “water feature” to your backyard, this would be a good time, if you could do it relatively unobtrusively.
Or a quick (and soon to be dirtied) fix: a kiddie wading pool, if possible lowered into the ground, or with a nice ramp next to it for the ducklings. The pool should be kept pretty full, though, to make it easier for the ducklings to get out of it!
As for food, maybe you could buy some fish-food pellets, like for koi ponds. And toss them any leftover lettuce, watercress, etc.
If this thread had a theme song, it’d be “Here Come the Ducks” by Yazbek.
And if it had a book, it’d be “Make Way for Ducklings”.
Other than that, sorry, I got nothing. Except for the suggestion that you give a local vet a call. They may be able to suggest what might be appropriate food for the mama duck and the ducklings.
How about Purina Duck Chow .
The same page also discusses Basic Care for Ducks.
Ducks are 
.
We’ve had ducks for the past few summers at my local watering hole. Aside from making sure nobody decides to put them on the BBQ (okay, that’d be me wanting roast duck* we just put a couple of ramps to make getting into and out of the fountains easier.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Kids are 5 and 10. The 10 year-old is a well mannered little girl, she would/will treat the duck family with reverence and respect. The 5 year old is a little boy, a future hellion, and I’m more concerned with his ability to respect the local fauna. So far, so good, though.
I kinda figured they would need a natural water feature, as opposed to a baby pool or bird bath on the ground (I haven’t reviewed the links yet, btw). I could certainly accommodate that. I guess I’m concerned if they need a natural water source prior to their ability to fly, as I don’t know of any within “walking distance”.