The morning routine: let ducks out of coop, sit or do garden chores by them with a hot cup of coffee while they drink water and nibble on food. They flap around and follow me everywhere in the morning. They can be kind of noisy if I get out of sight. After about a half hour of attention, they are happy to be just the four of them without me.
Cayuga Ducks have neat feathers. Blacks, blues, greens, purples.
Out of the coop!
Water. Always water first.
Due to how they are bred, they will not be able to fly, but they like to flap their wings a lot.
After raising and releasing the wild duck successfully, we find our tiny clutch down to four feathered females. We have two Cayuga ducks, one Buff duck, and one Swedish Blue duck. All four continue to grow. Our yard is a sprinkling of black, grey, and yellow feathers as they begin their late summer molt. It's like a pillow fight happened out there.
I've come to realize how gentle and nice ducks are. I selected breeds that were calm, gentle, and quiet. They really are sweet tempered animals. They still make some noise, but aren't as boisterous as other ducks I've been around. They are chatty in the morning and chatty again if given treats. But otherwise they are quiet or silent. Here is are our ducks that will produce some great eggs for us in the near future.
Cayuga duck in the morning in the gardens. This one is named Dahlia.
Cayuga duck in the black eyed susans. This one is named Molasses.
Blue Swedish duck in the black eyed susans. This one is named Galantis Snowbird.
Buff duck in the black eyed susans. This one is named Daisy.
Ducks are so cute when they are resting.
One eye open.
Found sleeping under the sumac patch.
Dahlia and Molasses preening during a rain storm.
Daisy waddling about.
They go through at least two buckets of water a day.
This is a story about chance. In my family's future, we wanted to raise egg-laying hens. Having grown up on a farm, I was up to the task, even if we lived in the city. It was doable - a handful of egg-laying hens. My kids were just begging for it to happen.
The chance adventure began when the place I work at came across some wild duck eggs in a dangerous place for eggs to be. A little fact about wild ducks: the mother duck will only lay one egg a day, leave the nest, go eat in a pond, come back the next day, lay another - and so on until there are 10-12 eggs for her to finally sit on and incubate. The place was going to toss the two wild duck eggs out of the nest and into the grass to get rid of them before something else did. They deemed them good as gone if left in the location they were found. To note, disturbing a wild duck nest is prohibited by law. It was one of those tough situations of: eggs would die being left there, and eggs would die being pitched out. Being a wildlife advocate, I thought up a different plan. I brought the two eggs home. I was willing to see if I could hatch them out. I instantly read up a lot about wild ducks. I had always wanted ducks, but not wild ducks. I wanted those cute waddling ones with all the neat feathers. After the research I thought the task to hatch out the wild eggs was doable. So began the journey of the ducks.
2 Duck Eggs Rescued
I poured over information on successfully hatching out wild duck eggs, laws on rescuing wild ducks, and what to do if the eggs were actually fertile and viable. After a tremendous amount of research, I decided to give the incubation a try. I had no idea if the eggs were even fertile. Incubating eggs is not to be taken lightly. It is a daily task - rotating the eggs carefully multiple times a day, checking temperature, making sure the humidity is perfect. And even if all is going well in incubation, the eggs may not hatch out. There are so many factors to a successful hatching. Having only two of what should have been a clutch of ten to twelve duck eggs, I was thinking my chances of having them hatch out to be impossible. And there is no better place for wild eggs to be than in the care of their real, wild mother. But unfortunately, they had to depend on me.
After about 11 days I candled them (candling is when you go into a dark room with a flash light, hold the flash light to the egg, and see the veins and life forming - amazing), and there was life in them. It was beautiful to see life via candling. And after a month of tedious and constant care of the eggs in incubation, one of them made it to full hatch. Duck eggs are notorious for being difficult to hatch out properly. I was shocked that one hatched at all. Yes, only one. The other stopped developing between day 18 and 20. Both eggs received the same treatment. It was very sad for one not to make it full term. But alas, here is the one survivor after 31 days of incubation:
Egg Pipping - meaning the hatchling is on the way. This took 3 days.
Duckling unzipping the egg shell. Working hard to get out. Took hours.
Fresh from the shell, warming up in the incubator.
Drying off in the heat of incubator.
To note, I did spend the entire night sleeping next to the incubator to ensure this one duckling made it through the night. Well, I didn't sleep much actually. I talked to it, and encouraged it that it wasn't alone. Lonely ducks are not happy ducks. They are social animals.
12 hours later. Precious baby. Life - what a beautiful thing.
All fluffy and dry. Alive, warm, well. Taken from incubator and put into a custom made brooder box with red heat lamp.
30 hours after hatch. So tiny, but full of life and spunk. What a survivor!
I was prepared for the possibility that only one egg would hatch out. I knew this duck's survival depended on it having a duck family. I had researched domestic ducks to put on order from a great hatchery that combated disease and took excellent care of their stock. I needed quiet, gentle, good egg-laying ducks. I ordered the wild duckling four sisters from California - three different breeds - 2 Cayuga, 1 Buff, and 1 Blue Swedish. The babies were flown via jet to the post office for sorting. Within 2 days of the domestic ducks hatching in California, our one duckling household turned into a five duckling household. And our wild duck was so happy to have the company.
The four sisters fresh from the post office. Getting love from the kids. I kept the 4 domestic ducks away from the wild duck for a day. I needed to make sure the ducks were not sick. Wild ducks are incredibly susceptible to diseases from domestic ducks. I was hoping this accredited hatchery lived up to its standards of combating avian disease. They were super healthy.
Sisters for the wild duckling. The wild duck was very curious. Our new adventure in having backyard ducks begins.
They took to each other immediately.
"Let's grow up together."
So the babies arrived one week after our wild one was hatched. They all got along famously. But ducklings grow fast. So we needed to get a move on their outdoor coop and enclosure. I also had to be careful to not handle the wild duck much as a wild duck needs to return to the wild.
I kept the ducklings in their custom made brooder box with chick starter/grower food, lots and lots of water, heat from a red heat lamp, and dry pine shaving and marsh hay bedding until our outdoor coop was ready. The wild duck was able to feed on additional goods: duck weed, fresh greens, and many other natural items as it's needs were different from the domestic ducklings.
As the ducklings grew, their coop took shape within our gardens. We found a lot of the coop lumber material for free from friends' junk piles. We purchased a little bit of the materials new. A good steel roof was custom ordered, and wire weave was purchased to keep predators out. Repurposed windows and repurposed wood were very helpful at keeping the coop cost very low. I purchased exterior paint to doll it up a bit. Within a few weeks the coop was built, the preliminary non-predator proof duckling fence put up, and the ducklings were able to be outside with a heat lamp at night (wired into coop). The first seven to eight weeks, ducklings are very messy and needy. Ducklings, in general, are very helpless and need lots of care. BUT, they are so worth all the work.
Preliminary duck coop set up. The coop and the fence around it changed as the ducklings grew into ducks.
Ducklings in their coop.
It's very important to bond with the domestic ducklings so they are not scared of people.
A reason I love ducks is because they have an incredible ability to forage for insects without pecking or scratching up too much vegetation. Taking the ducklings out to the garden for their first big outing became a morning routine. I let the ducklings roam in the fenced in garden while I cleaned out their brooder box and coop. It's important to have an organic garden as ducklings dabble and nibble on many things. Most pesticides - even organic ones - are too harmful for ducklings. My ducks are my pesticide. They do a great job eating slugs and earwigs - my main nemeses.
Ducklings and ducks will devour young vegetation and flowers. Be sure you put up a tiny fence if you don't want them nibbling everything small. I enjoyed watching them nibble on and eat the strawberries left out for them.
The ducklings quickly outgrew being able to be in my veggie garden as the tender flowers for my vine plants needed to be protected from hungry bills. They did eventually get to free range in our backyard, which they delight in.
First time in the tub to try some underwater swimming.
Ducks love water! I acquainted my ducklings to water in our bath tub and shallow dishes at first. They had so much fun swimming. The wild duckling absolutely needed water at the start so it could eventually be ready for the greater water systems of our planet. Domestic ducks, at least the ones I ordered, do not need tubs or pools of water. However, they do love to get wet and muddy. They love their kiddie pool time, too. Lots of fun watching them swim, splash, and play. Ducks love rain showers and storms, too. The wetter, the better.
First time in a big pool. It was important to keep the water shallow enough for them to touch if needed. They need their oils to repel water from their feathers, but they don't get that until a little bit older.
Growing and growing. Once you give them a pool - they tend to demand it. They like routine. On a very hot day, I provided them an umbrella. Ducks do not like extreme heat. They stayed cool in the shade of their kiddie pool all afternoon. Once they got free reign of the backyard, their pool was moved to a shaded area in our yard.
It was inevitable that the wild duck would be able to fly at some point. The timing was important. I wanted to be around it if it took a big flight. What if it flew over the fence? What if it flew into the road? What if it flew off and ate some toxic substance in a neighbor's yard? The possibilities of injury or harm this little wild bird could endure, I imagined. Once it could fly, I'd have to make sure I could get it to the lake - which was only a few blocks from our urban home. And I had to make sure it wasn't too imprinted. I had to make sure it was disease free. I had to make sure of so many things just like any wildlife rehab. facility would. Did I give it enough space? Yes, free range wild duck. Did I feed it enough lake diet food? Yes, trips to net lots of lake food to put in a pool were definitely worth it. Was the duck too attached to humans? Well, maybe a little comfortable with me, maybe to my family; but it was very shy of visitors. Not too heavily imprinted. It stuck mainly with the other ducks and maintained a healthy distance from humans most of the time. But from ducklings to ducks, they had a lot of good moments of growing and learning together. Here are some of the duck memories before the wild one was set free into the wild world.
First time free-ranging in the yard. Bigger space for growing quackers.
Special duck crumble fortified with niacin to prevent serious deformities.
Hanging out.
As the domestic ducks grew, they surpassed the wild one by almost double the size. A wild duck like this only gets to 2.5 lbs. The domestics grow to be 6.5 to 7 lbs. Here they enjoy a morning snack of freshly shredded zucchini.
Sleeping by our feet under our patio set.
Foraging for seeds, berries, tomatoes, weeds, grasses, bugs, slugs, etc.
Enjoying the rain from the down spout.
Bathing in the rain from the down spout.
Enjoying a heavy rainstorm.
Ducks love water - especially wild ducks.
They love rain boots and feet.
Preening after the rain.
Buddies.
When they just need to get into some water right away - the drinking water will have to do.
Duck in a bucket trying to swim.
So as the ducklings grew, they gained lots of feathers. The down turned into beautiful feathers of all sorts. The wild duck gained flight feathers. Once those flight feathers came in, the wing flapping began. And within a few days, the wild duck was gaining some height and momentum. I waited until those flight feathers could carry it far.
And here it flies. The domestic ducks cannot fly. They are too heavy. But that wild duck - it can maneuver and fly beautifully.
After a few attempts of it flying much further - into the road, over the fence and away one night at dusk (it came back in the dark with a thud into our house), I knew it was time to take it "home". So after a couple of days together, we, as a family, let it "free". It was always free to go, but our concrete jungle of urban yards and cars and barking dogs is no place for a young wild duck. Without me, it would not know to go to the lake with all the other ducks just like it. So here began the process of saying good-bye. And with any good-bye, especially if you're a sucker for photos for memories, you take lots of photos before the end.
Nibbling the ring. Ducks like anything shiny.
Last cup of 6:30 am coffee with the entire gang.
Preening me.
Preening again.
Hanging with the kid in the fort.
Always found a place to nap beneath a chair.
Nibbling hair.
And then that was it. Memories made. What an amazing journey. It was time for the journey to continue, but solo. All babies must leave their mothers. This one was ready.
The big morning. Out at the shore land where urban life meets quiet walking trails and gardens along the water. Dozens and dozens of ducks await. So much food and water for this wild feathered friend.
After we took the wild duck to the water, we let it out of the carrier (which it was peacefully calm in). It waddled out of the carrier, eagerly walked up to the water, peered out to the great big world ahead of it. Within moments it shook it's tail, and took flight. It flew and flew and flew until we could no longer see it. The moment was beautiful. It was joyous to see the once left for dead abandoned egg, hatched out, grown, and flying free in the amazing world. We all sighed a relief that it left, and left willingly and happily into the great wide open arms of planet earth.
But of course, I monitored to see if it lingered in the bay with the ducks, or if it hounded after humans, or if by chance if might get hurt in any way. Over several days I checked morning and night on the wild duck. It did not favor humans, and it was doing great on its own. A few times, I was lucky enough to spot it, and even twice it came to visit. But as the days passed, the bond between I and the duck passed, and this duck went back to the wild.
The first night. It swam to only me. Imprinting is crazy.
It insisted on hanging out a while by the shore until it flew back into the water.
The next morning after the first night alone. It was doing great, but came to visit.
Foraging for bugs. Then it flew away.
The daily checks showed me that the duck was not dependent on humans. Because of the imprinting it knew me, so it would come "say hello", but it did not need me or any other human. It had grown up with other ducks, it had not been handled by us much, and it was fed what wild ducks need. It was comfortable on its own, and it was comfortable with the other ducks. It loved the lake. It did not seek other humans out, and after a few days it no longer visited me, and I was sure to not encourage it to visit. All good signs of a successful wild duck release. It should have never needed a human in the first place. All wild ducks and their eggs should be left for their mother duck. This one - this little egg that was deemed unviable by some - was lucky. Lucky to have a chance at life because life is so amazing - it's worth living.
The last time we saw it - swimming about, eating - over a week after release into the wild.
It gathered with the other ducks to begin the big Fall journey.
