Advice about potential single duck egg?

C

Chickenbrain2009

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Hi,
I have a few eggs in the incubator. However at the moment I have one chicken that seems to be moving around fine. The others are not developing. I have two duck eggs hatching alongside which also seem to be developing. I am a bit worried about what to do if I just get one duck hatching? :( If its a chicken I know that I can easily get a one day old chick, not so sure about a duckling............. I would be grateful for advice from anyone :-)05 . I am wondering if I should let things continue under the circumstances, would it be fair on the duck?

Thanks
 
You could scour around to see if anyone is likely to have some hatch at the same time as yours . Where are you ?
 
I also thought about giving it away to someone else, I cant bring myself to let it die, I can see it moving around, The second egg is a quitter I think. I have had a look around, I could try putting out an ad I suppose
 
Hiya, I had this same problem with just one hatch, you have a couple of options, you could buy another about the same age if it hatches and makes it few the first few days, it should be ok for a few days with chicks as company, BUT it would need different feed than the chicks which is VITAL. Warawee duck farm is near you, that's where I got my day olds from :) Let me know if I can help further! What breed is you one lone ducky egg?
 
Hi, Mallard.
I have bought some feed that is suitable for ducks as well as chicks. I will have a look at Warawee which I have not heard of, and also try rehoming.
Thanks so much

Pam
 
We took in a Mallard chick and added it to our recently hatched Wyandottes. Fine initially, but he grew much faster than they did and made a hell of a mess. The bedding was constantly waterlogged. He started preening them all as if to be mother hen which they hated and ultimately turned nasty and wouldn't let anyone into 'his' coop. We fed him on chick crumb without ACV. Not sure what ACV does to a duck but I know it kills Turkeys.
 
Hi, I have decoded he or she will need to be rehomed. Just hope I can find someone. I know someone who letsome mallards lose in the wild but I am sure that must be cruel if they have not been born there?
 
Oh if it is Mallard I can take it. We have a huge lake in the garden and often release orphan mallards onto it and they do very well. I also have an old sick mallard drake atm. Let me know when he hatches and I can get him/her when ready.
 
Hi, thanks,where do you live? Dorset is some considerable distance................
If I released on orphan onto my local canal would it be OK then?
 
Ok, thats what I thought, I will still keep plodding on, its hasnt even hatched yet and might not make it.
Pam
 
ha ha , I have traveled 4 hours to collect rescues so 70 odd miles is fine for me! You need to consider a few options here. You need to raise the mallard in sight of other ducks so he doesn't imprint or he wont do well in the wild. You COULD raise him/her with your chickens but it is vital he has different food or he will have internal and external developmental issues such as angel wing and his/her organs may not develop properly, again meaning poor outcome for release.
In my experience they fledge at about 8-9 weeks.... but it helps if they can see water and they go when they are ready. So it would be ideal for it to be raised near a large water source, so when it feels ready it can go and feel safe. Just releasing a home hatched orphan on a canal doesn't give it much chance of survival as it may not be able to find food or safety if it has been used to being fed by you.
When home hatched you never can tell what they do, they may want to stay with you and just fly off at certain times, so you need to be prepared for it to come back, or not go at all in which case it would really need a pond and other duckies.
I am in Bournemouth where I have 9 domestics and 1 crippled rescue mallard. My family live near Wareham where they have 2 large lakes close to the house with wild ducks and some domestics which is where I release any orphan Mallards I take in, so a couple of options for you to think about.
x
 
Our Mallard, if that's what you have ChickenBrain, did fine on unmedecated chick crumb and then rearers pellets. He used to make holes in the ground and fill them with water to seive his food. Very strong and flying at 10 weeks but didn't want to leave. We took him to several ponds around the area but he always came back and hadn't eaten while away, so we stopped trying to find another home. We live next to a canal but he didn't want to go there preferring the garden with the hens. He avoided the cockerels!
 
Chrismahon, do you still have him? Our last 5 orphans took off at 9 weeks and only come back to visit once in a while, very wild, but there were 5 and we didn't handle them. With one, raised with chickens, it is unlikely to know he is a duck so will likely stay. But you never know!!!
 
You think he will be alright on his own then?
Its the different food thats the main problem for me as I need to keep them in the same area.
 
Well DDO. He decided to stay and continue to make a complete mess of the chickens feed and water and then he decided to take over the chickens coop. Came down to put them to bed to find Pluto standing guard at the pophole hissing at them all. Enough was enough and he was transformed into Sunday dinner. Shame really because one of my customers injured a Mallard in his car and took it in. Was told it was male by a local breeder so he bought a female for 'him' only to discover when the female was taken by a fox (and I did tell him) that 'he' was a she. Unfortunately Pluto went the week before, otherwise we would have been able to rehome him. Next time our neighbours cat brings a duck chick back he can sort it out himself!
 
I would ALWAYS raise a duck in sight of other ducks otherwise it will never know it is a duck. But saying that if you can provide for him/her correctly then you could raise him, problem is he would always have trouble accepting/being accepted by other ducks. The food will be vital up until he/she is adult.. then they can be fed the same pellets.
Chrismahon, shame about Pluto!
 
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