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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 4:06 pm
Question- do mother ducks ever leave their ducklings??? I'm asking because there's a lone duckling in the lagoon in front of my house -- the mother has been with it for the past 2 days, but for the past 20 minutes or so it's been alone, cheeping loudly and swimming about looking for its mommy. I'm concerned, but hoping the mom is just running an errand or something...
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 4:14 pm
Anybody? I'm bumping this because I'm ridiculously worried about this cheeping duckling. I'm watching it out my window. (I must have a maternal instinct or something, despite my denying it! )
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Jan
Member
08-01-2000
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 4:19 pm
This is all I could find Yankee. I don't think it really answers your question, though Mallard ducklings ETA: I also found this info from the Louiosville Zoo, if you need to rescue the duckling: "For ducklings – if mom is trying to lead ducklings to safety, try to help by monitoring traffic, etc. If you find orphan ducklings, place in a deep box lined with an old towel with a 100 watt bulb overhead or heating pad placed under the box with a towel between the box and pad for warmth. Monitor heat so they are comfortable. Ducklings do not need water to swim in, believe it or not they can drown. They just need a shallow dish of water and some duck or chicken crumbles for food. Do not give chick starter as this medicated and will make ducklings sick. These foods can be purchased at a store that carries farm animal feed like Feeders Supply."
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Ducky
Member
08-27-2000
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 4:36 pm
Yankee ma ma ducks don't usually leave their babies alone. She probably left with her other ducklings and this one got lost. The mama duck will hear her duckling (if she is not to far away) and start calling for it to let it know where she is. Eventually the ma ma duck should come back and find her duckling.
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Ddr
Member
08-19-2001
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 4:42 pm
Yankee, I think a good name for the duckling would be Jujuduck....just saying.... . How long will you wait until you rescue it?
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 4:45 pm
Here's the saddest part -- there were more ducklings but they started to disappear yesterday morning. As of yesterday noon, it was only the mother and this one duckling. We thought maybe other birds were preying on the other ducklings, but today they found out that five of them had been sucked down the drain in the lagoon. My building handyman and volunteers promptly covered each of the drains with mesh to save this one little guy that was left. And now its mom is gone. I just talked with our building handyman, and he said two male mallards came in to the lagoon and she left afterwards -- more than an hour ago. So I feel for this little guy -- he/she's a survivor!!! But it's chilly and rainy today and I'm worried about him! And he's swimming in the water right out of my front door and I can hear him chirping in my office. (Thanks, Jan for the link.)
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Ddr
Member
08-19-2001
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 5:00 pm
Aww Yankee, that's sooo sad. I think you need to adopt him! Plllleeeeeaaaaassseee?
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 6:21 pm
Save Jujuduck NOW!!!
just kidding, I am in the let Mom rescue camp
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 7:04 pm
OK, here's an update. After doing research, which included talking with my dog's vet and also the avian wildlife rescue group, and watching the little duckling be by himself for over 3 hours, I and my neighbor decided we'd rescue him if his mother didn't come back to him by late evening, say 7:30 or so. (Everyone said it'd be too cold for him to make it through the night by himself, but we wanted to give the mother a chance to come back -- that obviously was the #1 solution) Well, about 20 minutes after we'd talked about what we'd need (box, lamp, etc.) and how we'd catch him, the mom and a male mallard came swooping in and the three of them were reunited!!! YAY!!! That's what I was hoping would happen!!! HOWEVER, we've decided she's an inattentive mother, and we're keeping a close eye on the situation -- and if she leaves again, we're calling Social Services and reporting her! (just kidding -- but we are keeping an eye out and hope she doesn't do this again). Thanks for your thoughts -- I was really concerned and have taken up my whole afternoon worrying about this Silly, huh?! And, I have hereby named the duckling Jujuduck. I'll try to take a photo of him tomorrow.
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Ddr
Member
08-19-2001
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 7:38 pm
YAY!!!!!!!!! Jujuduck is very lucky to have a special godmother like you Yankee!
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Babyruth
Member
07-19-2001
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 7:51 pm
Yay, Jujuduck! Yay, Yankee! Funny how we worry so about the spring ducklings. We had a mallard several years back who built her nest against the side of our house near some low bushes, sort of in plain view of the world, and we worried about all those little duckies all the time. Two male mallards were always close by, however. (The babies seemed to have two daddies and a mommy!) Here's a couple of pics I took back then, when the duckies were very little:

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Moondance
Member
07-30-2000
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 7:55 pm
Oh I looooove those pix!!!!! i want to squeeze one! Yah!!! JujuDuck!
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Friday, May 07, 2004 - 11:16 pm
Long live Jujuduck!!!
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Rupertbear
Member
09-19-2003
| Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 10:08 am
That is some good juju, I'd say. I love a happy ending. Yay, Yankee! And Ruthie the pics are precious! 
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 10:29 am
Photos of Jujuduck and her mom are coming soon... Stay tuned.
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 10:34 am
I hereby present... JUJUDUCK and his mommy, who's with him and being attentive today...

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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 10:35 am
And here's little JUJUDUCK by himself! (In next message)
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Rupertbear
Member
09-19-2003
| Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 10:37 am
Lol...he sure looks like a li'l scrapper, don't he Yankee? Btw...the pictures are just beautiful!
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 10:37 am

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Rupertbear
Member
09-19-2003
| Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 10:40 am
What a little cutie!!
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 1:19 pm
Oh, what God hath wroth!
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Ddr
Member
08-19-2001
| Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 2:21 pm
Yah!!! for Jujuduck! Thanks for posting the pics Yankee, they are marvelous!
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 11:09 pm
Jujuduck had a good day -- mom was with him all day, until she left around 5 today for about a half hour, but came back with her boyfriend. Last I saw them, Jujuduck and mom were heading towards the nest (under some azaleas). The duckling looks strong and twice as big today as he looked two days ago. He's a very fast swimmer... That's the Jujuduck update for today.
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Ddr
Member
08-19-2001
| Sunday, May 09, 2004 - 5:25 am
Thanks for the Jujuduck update. And if you're anything like me, you probably never took your eyes off of Juju while his mom was gone, huh? LOL
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Monday, May 10, 2004 - 12:33 pm
Babyruth and Yankee, your mallard photographs are absolutely beautiful!!!! Thank you so much for posting them - I just love those little babies!!
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