[Image description: a brown and yellow duckling naps in the sun]
This is duckling number two for the year so far, hatched five days after the first. I’m keeping an eye on them because none of the hens seem to be claiming it yet. I would honestly rather not be a duck mom again, so I hope someone takes them under their wing.
I’ve taken to calling the first duckling “Una” and this one “Niji”, but that naming scheme is likely to get dropped quickly since its uses are numbered
*Edit to update: one of the hens has taken little Niji in, I heard them making happy little peeps.
What type(s) of ducks do you raise? I used to raise ducks, but never had abandoned eggs/ducklings. We did have cases where our neighbors lost an offspring (chick, gosling, duckling), and all the girls in our yard gave the visitors extremely wide berth. I also had a drake that objected to his own kids and tried to kill them, so we had to give him away. Ours were: Indian Runners, Black Swedes, and Pekins.
We raise Muscovies, who are generally pretty decent with rearing their young. I’ve only had to mother one duck since starting, but it’s a lot of work when they imprint on a human. Our drake only has a problem with his male offspring, and generally only once they begin to reach maturity.
I updated the post but to put your heart at ease: one of the hens has taken little Niji in and they were making happy little duckling peeps when I last looked in on them.
Yay!