# Wild Mallard Duckling Questions?



## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

I hatched 9 wild mallard eggs on June 29th from my incubator. The hen had laid her nest in a hay feild of a farmer friend & he didn't want to just drive over the eggs & crush them.

I have 8 that made it(1 died at 3 days old). I want to raise them up enough to fly & be able to fend for themselves then I'm turning them loose.

How long do I need to feed them & how many weeks until they can fly?


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## whistler (Apr 20, 2005)

It doesn't matter how long until they are able to fly. They aren't going to be able to fend for themselves. Captive reared wild birds just don't learn the skills necessary to live in the wild. You might as well raise them until eating size and send them to freezer camp.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

What a bummer, We don't really like duck to eat & it seems such a waste to buy feed & care for them for so long just for them to become coyote or fox food.


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

A number of years ago I was convinced by the wife to buy of what you got for free - Mallard duckings.
I cared for them and once big enough they were turned loose in the yard to co-mingle with the chickens and geese. Ah, they were a colorful sight 7 green headed and 3 brown headed ducks more or less in a row going between the barn and the small stream behind the barn. 
Then one day ol and behold the ten of them flew maybe 2-3 feet off the ground the hundred yards from the barn up to the house - will wonders never cease they can fly.
By mid Aug it was quite a sight to watch them take off from the barn circle up to maybe 30-40 feet and then fly to the house and circle down to feed around the yard.
Then one day in late Sept amid a lot of quacking I watched as they took off from the barn circled the house and left, to where I don't know.
To this day though I have a pair or two of Mallards that nest in a pond on the property. Are they from the first group - maybe; I want to think so.

Anyway my advice, care for them, watch them, and if and when the time comes don't be surprised come fall if they suddenly fly away. 
If they don't maybe follow whistler's advice.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

I plan on caring & feeding for them still. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that it turns out OK, Like your story Michael.

I bet those 2 pair of mallards are some of what you had when babies too. I have heard they come back to nest where they were born but not sure if that's true.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I would expect them to join the migration in the fall even if you brood them. I would also expect any that survive until spring to show up at your place.


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## poorboy (Apr 15, 2006)

Hope the feds don't get wind of this...Messing with waterfowl nests, eggs, or birds is strictly controlled and they are very-very asinine about it..often slapping people with HUGE fines when they catch someone...A good deed can be very costly...


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Backfourty said:


> I want to raise them up enough to fly & be able to fend for themselves then I'm turning them loose.
> 
> How long do I need to feed them & how many weeks until they can fly?


They start practise flying at about 5 weeks of age and should be able to maintain flight by 6 weeks, but you are probably stuck with them now as they will have already imprinted on you and may not want to leave you. Wild mallards are very intelligent birds and capable of displaying affectionate behaviour towards you. If you want them to be wild you will have to teach them how to be wild and how to survive in the wild. 

Here is a site that explains more about your new babies.

http://spiralbound.net/2008/05/24/mallard-duck-faq#Q4

.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

poorboy said:


> Hope the feds don't get wind of this...Messing with waterfowl nests, eggs, or birds is strictly controlled and they are very-very asinine about it..often slapping people with HUGE fines when they catch someone...A good deed can be very costly...




I guess the fed's would rather the farmer ran over the nest with his tractor?


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

naturelover said:


> They start practise flying at about 5 weeks of age and should be able to maintain flight by 6 weeks, but you are probably stuck with them now as they will have already imprinted on you and may not want to leave you. Wild mallards are very intelligent birds and capable of displaying affectionate behaviour towards you. If you want them to be wild you will have to teach them how to be wild and how to survive in the wild.
> 
> Here is a site that explains more about your new babies.
> 
> ...




Thanks Naturelover, that article was very imformative. My mom knows a lady that feeds a minimum of 35 to 50 wild ducks all year long, they come & go from her home & the lake across the road. I am going to see about releasing them there with the other ducks when they are old enough.

They are starting to get in some feathers now.


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Backfourty said:


> I am going to see about releasing them there with the other ducks when they are old enough.


Backfourty, I hate to have to tell you this but it's something you really need to know. 

If you release them with a large group of wild ducks when they are still young and have no adult defenders and no wild instincts they will most likely be brutally killed by the other ducks. It will be like setting lambs before lions. 

Any young females in your group will be blinded and then gang-raped to death by bully-boy groups of older wild bachelor drakes and the young males will be blinded, beaten and drowned. I have seen this happen on several occassions to juvenile broods of wild mallards where the mother was killed or was helpless to prevent it.

Young mallard drakes stay with their mothers and aunties for a couple of years or more for protection, they don't leave the family flock and the family flock won't accept young orphaned outsiders from a strange flock. When the drakes reach young adulthood, if they haven't already paired off with a female in the group they leave the family flock and form groups of bully-boy bachelors who hang out on the fringes. The young females of the flock never leave the family group, they stay with their mothers and aunties for united matriarchal protection, with or without a mate.

Sometimes you will see paired couples flying and feeding together and it may seem like they are a solitary couple but they always return to the family flock at night if she isn't nesting. When a female mallard goes off on her own to nest and raise a brood, she always returns to the matriarchal family flock with the juvenile youngsters (and her mate if she has one) after she has taught them how to hunt for food and to fly and defend themselves.

If you don't want to keep them but don't want your orphaned youngsters to be immediately killed in the wild I think you only have 2 options. Either feed them up secretly for 3 months and then slaughter them humanely for freezer-camp or else turn them over now to Wildlife Conservation. You _could_ tell them you found the newly hatched ducklings beside their dead mother and rescued them. That way you shouldn't get into much trouble for interfering with the nest, you will just get a dressing down for not turning them over sooner. But if you are going to turn them over to Wildlife Conservation you need to do that as soon as possible now while they are still impressionable enough to be properly taught by WC to be rehabilitated and released by them to the wild in another year from now.

.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Well I have another idea then, I wonder about turning them loose with my domesticated ducks when they get a little older & if they fly away in the fall then they fly away.
Wouldn't they stay if they couldn't take care of themselves?


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Yes. :thumb:

That is what I would do if they were in my care but I'd be prepared to maintain and protect them for a year. Keeping them with your domestic ducks will give them a chance to mature and learn "ducky" behaviours and language and learn how to fend for themselves. Wait until they're well feathered out and fully imprinted on each other before you put them with your domestics and keep a close eye on them for the first 2 - 3 days. Your domestic ducks will pick on them and do some feather pulling at first to establish the pecking order heirarchy but that's normal and the youngsters should be okay. I doubt they would leave this autumn unless they are badly bullied by your domestics. They would probably stay with your domestic ducks until next summer when they will feel more confident. Then next summer some or possibly all of the mallards may fly away as an established family group. Some of them may stay if they can't care for themselves.

By the time a year has gone by you might not want them to leave. As I mentioned above, mallards are very intelligent, affectionate and endearing. They are also very alert "watch-dogs" for the whole farm flock. If you really want them to leave you will have to maintain as little contact with them as possible and don't feed them by hand.

Good luck with them, I hope that all goes well for you and for them.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Thanks for all your help naturelover, that's what i'll do then. I'll wait to put them in with my other ducks till they are bigger, just like when I buy or hatch out domesticated ducklings.
They should be fine then.


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