superstar Posted November 11, 2008 Report Posted November 11, 2008 Has Mother Nature gone mad? judging by this she's a little confused! Went on a short fishing adventure Sunday with my boy and his mate, mad I know, blowing a gale and like a monsoon at times but still braved it. Well the fishing was poor but to my surprise there was a group of 9 newly hatched ducklings swimming round the lake, nothing strange there you say? Well look at the date, 9th of November! surely not normal to see wild ducklings so young at that time of year? No sign of the mother either and on speaking to one of the bailifs discovered that there had been a duck shoot that morning. Thought no more of it at the time but when sitting at home watching the results of the dancing on TV whilst listening to the wind whistling down the chimney and the rain lashing the window thought of these poor little ducks and what if the mother had been shot and they were alone? Well they would have no chance of living so Myself, Linda, John, his mate and girlfriend went searching a 3 acre lake and surounding area at nearly ten at night with the wind and rain driving and after an hour odd search found the poor little things huddled up together soaking and half dead in the grass a couple of foot from the waters edge. They didn't try to run or anything as I picked them up and handed them to the others so doubt they would of lived through the night. As you can see from the pictures they are OK now though and living quite happily in a large box in my bedroom of all places. Thing is now what to do with them when they get bigger? Do I release them and hope they survive or do I find someone that has a pool and maybe a few domestic ducks on it already so they will always get food easily if need be? I know they cant stay here there is no room so if anyone out there has ducks and can give these guy's and gal's a home when they are a bit bigger feel free to PM me or it will be an orange sauce and oven job lol
Fair Play Posted November 11, 2008 Report Posted November 11, 2008 SPCA will arrange for the birds to be looked after and released back into the wild when ready - It proves that pigeon fanciers do care. Well done
bewted Posted November 11, 2008 Report Posted November 11, 2008 were they offered tea and biscuits too ??????????? must say,your a gentleman for doing that superstar !!! not many would ,,,,
Roland Posted November 11, 2008 Report Posted November 11, 2008 Well done mucker! BUT DON'T allow them to get wet! Don't let them in a pool. They will die of phenomea. The parents allow them under the wing which is very warm and airy to dry them off. Maybe a hair drier would do the same... But Rouke Garfield never did this, and so no.... so I never would have either. Good luck.
superstar Posted November 11, 2008 Author Report Posted November 11, 2008 were they offered tea and biscuits too ??????????? must say,your a gentleman for doing that superstar !!! not many would ,,,, Ted they had Wholemeal bread crumbs through the first night and next morning now chick crumbs but they have requested tea and toast for breakfast when they feel up to it lol. Third thing rescued this year. Got 5 moorhen chicks out of a flood drain when the RSPCA didnt want to know. Cost me 25 quid for a dinghy and had to be done under the cover of darkness or get shot by farmer lol but mission accomplished thanks to my blowing up of the boat and bravery of John and his mate again! All chicks were freed though to live another day. Then I hand reared a seagull, now he was good, a local celeb too, as he used to have more visitors than me lol. Begining to be a bit of a habit this sort of thing perhaps I should get a life lol
retired Posted November 11, 2008 Report Posted November 11, 2008 Ted they had Wholemeal bread crumbs through the first night and next morning now chick crumbs but they have requested tea and toast for breakfast when they feel up to it lol. Third thing rescued this year. Got 5 moorhen chicks out of a flood drain when the RSPCA didnt want to know. Cost me 25 quid for a dinghy and had to be done under the cover of darkness or get shot by farmer lol but mission accomplished thanks to my blowing up of the boat and bravery of John and his mate again! All chicks were freed though to live another day. Then I hand reared a seagull, now he was good, a local celeb too, as he used to have more visitors than me lol. Begining to be a bit of a habit this sort of thing perhaps I should get a life lol Exact reason i would rather burn money than give to the RSPCA - I reported Cruelty on a dog twice they never even bothered - A neighbour ended up taking it off them
superstar Posted November 11, 2008 Author Report Posted November 11, 2008 Exact reason i would rather burn money than give to the RSPCA - I reported Cruelty on a dog twice they never even bothered - A neighbour ended up taking it off them Couldnt agree more with you on that. All talk and promise and no action from my experience. Thanks all for the kind words. Heart of gold? Dont know about that but sure am a big softie when it comes to animals
ChrisMaidment08 Posted November 11, 2008 Report Posted November 11, 2008 have you a heat lamp for nights when they are older they can come to boys house on lake plenty of room then they will be on wild side of life
ChrisMaidment08 Posted November 11, 2008 Report Posted November 11, 2008 and you can have goose instead of duck ;D ;D
OLDYELLOW Posted November 11, 2008 Report Posted November 11, 2008 well done for taking the time to rescue these poor little ducklings , i hope they are ok and find a new home
ChrisMaidment08 Posted November 11, 2008 Report Posted November 11, 2008 when i come up we will check eyesign if no goodd you can sell um
Roland Posted November 11, 2008 Report Posted November 11, 2008 Yep and Egg yolk is great feed too for them.
chickadee Posted November 11, 2008 Report Posted November 11, 2008 Aw very well done to you and your family for rescueing them, I love ducks they are georgous, used to have them when we lived up north 25 of them. ;D Hope you can find suitable homes for them.
superstar Posted November 12, 2008 Author Report Posted November 12, 2008 I'm gutted today, the two smaller ones that had been struggling a bit since I got them finally gave up the battle in the night. Fingers crossed for the other 7 as they seem fine but maybe I am doing something wrong? Not having the right equipment doesn't help and all the poultry people I know aint interested in helping them. Got hot water bottle under box changed every 3 hours so wasn't from cold. Just hoping reason was from being chilled before I got them and not because of something I did or didnt do.
Roland Posted November 12, 2008 Report Posted November 12, 2008 Keep them dry, no water to go in at al! Feed egg yolk with the white chopped fine, that's a hard boiled egg. Further to that your Corn merchant will stock it. Small amounts regular too, No big whopping feeds once in a while.
chickadee Posted November 12, 2008 Report Posted November 12, 2008 Aw sorry to hear that, sorry I can't be off more help as all the duckling we had the mothers looked after them very well so didn't have to bring any up. fed the mothers on wet layers mash that the hens got and some mixed corn, they forraged for the rest themselves. But, whatever you do, do not take them to a pond till they are older and able to fend for themselves as if they join another brood at this stage the mother of the other brood will just kill them. Hope you find a solution soon otherwise you'll have 7 permanent members to your family which will drive you Quackers. ;D ;D I wish you good luck with them.
superstar Posted November 12, 2008 Author Report Posted November 12, 2008 Cheers roland, I been feeding them about 5 or 6 times a day and once in the night then offer a dish of water for 10 mins or so shortly after so they get a good drink. Feeding them on dry chick crumbs as when I mixed it with water they looked like plaster casts cause they got in it lol. Just got me fingers crossed the other ones will be ok. Chickadee thank you for advice, tell ya it was gutting to see them 2 life less this morning. Others look fine so helps with moral a bit but dont want no more of that sinking feeling it aint nice. I will do what I can for now and go see a local farmer that has a pick your own place and got a small animal area for the kids so will see if I can leave them there when they are feathered up, God willing!!
ChrisMaidment08 Posted November 12, 2008 Report Posted November 12, 2008 mate will be up later after 5 willsee if can get heat bulb on way from homebase that will keep um warm at night as thats when there temp drops budgey egg food is good for them will give um all nes addertives they need
superstar Posted November 12, 2008 Author Report Posted November 12, 2008 mate will be up later after 5 willsee if can get heat bulb on way from homebase that will keep um warm at night as thats when there temp drops budgey egg food is good for them will give um all nes addertives they need Cheers Chris your a saint, will see you later then. Kettle will be on
ChrisMaidment08 Posted November 12, 2008 Report Posted November 12, 2008 wel spent time at superstars nice cup tea good chat looked at ducklings cutest things in world to see them drink brill just hope they all progress now mate you are one in million
superstar Posted November 12, 2008 Author Report Posted November 12, 2008 Massive thank you Chris for the lamp they are so much more active now as you can see in the pic's. They have a readybreak glow now lol. Cheers mate I think you have saved the day, your a real SUPERSTAR!
ChrisMaidment08 Posted November 12, 2008 Report Posted November 12, 2008 ;D ;D ;D looks like thermal image camra mate hope they dont get to hot??? dont they look happy though
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now