An hour ago,my husband rescued 6 two day old ducklings from a storm drain.The wild mother duck and a further 8 ducklings have not been seen for 8 hours.

At present,we have them in a cardboard box with a heat light & a very shallow small dish of water.

Now what do we do ??What food do they eat ?? They are cheeping well.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), April 19, 1999

Answers

Is it possible that you can call a vet and ask? How about a nearby zoo that may have ducks?

Good luck on your efforts.

Sincerely, Apple

-- Apple (villarta@itsnet.com), April 19, 1999.

It would be good if they could be reunited with Momma & siblings.

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), April 19, 1999.

Stop at the feed store and get a bag of 'chick starter' feed. Give them lots of water, all the food they will eat, and keep the temp around 80 degrees. Change their bedding every day or two, shredded newspaper works fine.

-- Art Welling (artw@lancnews.infi.net), April 19, 1999.

Chris is in the UK--5 hours ahead of EST--difficult to reach help. Chris, call my Dad, Eric in Retford, 01777-700482, tell him his daughter told you to call (He doesn't know who Old Git is!), he could probably help you, has raised poultry and other creatures.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 19, 1999.

Agree with Art --- our chickens and geese basically slop around in the same feed and what you're doing is what we do with our chicks. Can't see why it wouldn't work with ducks .....

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), April 19, 1999.

We had a similar incident a few years back -- my parents took the baby ducks to a nearby pond, where the resident ducks, total strangers, instantly & eagerly adopted the babies as their own. Heart-warming, etc.

Come Y2k, they'll all be lunch, I suppose. I've read that Paris after WWII was completely void of all pigeons.... (burp)

-- any (good@duck.recipies), April 19, 1999.

Many thanks to all who answered.

It was too late to get to the feed store & the zoo was shut !I managed to contact an animal welfare agency & am feeding them on a watery mixture of bread mush & cereal.All are eating.The animal ambulance is coming to collect them(maybe tomorrow) at vast expense.Are we quackers ?? Old Git,many thanks.I'll phone Eric tomorrow at a decent UK time.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), April 19, 1999.

Chick starter feed is fine, EXCEPT the kind that is medicated with a coccidiostat. It will kill ducklings

-- Paul Milne (fedinfo@halifax.com), April 19, 1999.

Keep us informed, and, good luck.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), April 19, 1999.

yes! second that! Chick starter is NOT ok if it has meds in it- most do- will KILL waterfowl pronto. Give them unmedicated chick starter or waterfowl starter from feedstore- else grind up pellets(unmedicated). Provide water, keep warm and you've got ducks!

-- anita (hillsidefarm@drbs.com), April 19, 1999.

"Just add water ... and you get ducks." ?

Do you realize how weird that sounds .... no DGI or DWGI is ever 'gonna believe us again. 8<)

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), April 19, 1999.

And the fact that this was a UK-oriented discussion is even funnier, given some Brits' fairly common use of the term "ducks", as in:

"'Allo, ducks! Pint a' Guinness or a Black-and-Tan, is it?"

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), April 19, 1999.

Git,

Your a *daughter*?????

pamela ;)

-- pamela (pamela4@hotmail.com), April 19, 1999.

Since the animal ambulance is coming soon, you probably won't need to do this, Chris. However, just for the sake of discussion, I fed baby *chicks* mashed up hard boiled eggs. OK, OK, that sounds cannibalistic, but the chicks didn't seem to mind.

-- Wallflower (y2kwallflr@aol.com), April 19, 1999.

Yup! I'm a mother too. But you know that. (Chuckle.)

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 19, 1999.

Yet another thread taking on a life of its own. Thanks, Paul. We don't use medicated feed and I didn't think of that. We don't feed shells and egg parts to chickens because it seems to turn some of them cannabalistic on their OWN eggs, once laid. Yuck.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), April 19, 1999.