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Need help with Mallard Duckling (1 Viewer)

Joyupmm

New member
I am new to all of this so, I may have posted this in the wrong spot. I would appreciate any feedback. We have a large yard and every Spring a Mallard couple flies in and parks it. Either in our pool or pond. Well, my grandaughter found an egg by itself in the grass. The parents ignored it, so we put it in an incubator.(We were already trying to hatch chicks). Well to our suprise, I opened the incubator to check on the last chick that has some problems and there was a duck staring me in the face! They both have bonded! I have nurtured the chick when everyone told me it would die and am very attached. And the duck is attached to the chick. So.. this is my dilema. What can I do with them. I would like to see if the parents would take to the duckling when it is old enough to go out. We live in a suburb of Chicago, so it gets very cold. I do not want these birds to end up as someones dinner or sport. Any suggestions? :scribe:
 
I'm a little confused here. If you were "already hatching chicks," what did you do with the others? I ask only because you're asking what to do with the duckling and the last chick to hatch. I assume you mean "chicken" when you say chick? Or some kind of wild bird chick?

I don't know what the laws are in Illinois for keeping game birds (the mallard), so you need to call a local Dept of Conservation (or whatever is the equivalent to a Fish & Game agency) and ask them what to do with the duckling.

Are the parents still around for you to reintroduce the duckling? If so, why did you think the egg was abandoned in the first place? The egg should have been returned to where it was found so the adults could continue caring for it themselves. Mallards are a ground-nesting species so the egg may have been removed from the nest site itself. (They don't always build a nest -- any scrape or place on the ground they feel is secure becomes their nest.) I don't know whether Mallards are as gregarious about adopting ducklings they didn't hatch themselves -- some species of geese, swans and ducks will do this. (Some will even adopt puppies, kittens, all kinds of "abandoned" critters.) You should call a local vet or bird rehabilitator and ask.

For future reference, please read the info page in case your granddaughter finds hatched or recently fledged chicks and thinks they're also abandoned. ;) But please please please leave eggs where you find them. :t:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=36564
 
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