Can't stop thinking about a little duckling

[Lavenderteal271]

We went for a walk along the canal on Sunday. There was a pair of ducks and they had one little duckling, it was absolutely beautiful. We stood and watched it for a while.

I took the dog for a walk there again yesterday and the duckling was all alone, frantically chirping and weaving all over the place. I walked for an hour along the canal and didn't see its parents.

I want to go back today and see if I can catch it but what if the parents were there somewhere and I missed them. I also don't have anywhere to raise a duckling-weve got cats and a terrier (who I swear was licking his chops at the sight of it yesterday!) I also don't think I'd be able to get hold of it , it didn't come to the edge of the canal and if it did and I tried to catch it I'm sure it would be too quick for me.

Poor thing.

Do you have a local wildlife rescue? I’d try and catch it and take it to a rescue.

Leave it be. You don’t know if the parents will return.

Not a local rescue, no. I dont think it'll survive long on its on especially if the weather turns cold.

I've never seen a duckling in November!

You should not interfere with wildlife. Was it last year that some people decided to rescue a young deer that was swimming - they ended up killing it. Cute as ducklings are leave it alone - or call the RSPCA or similiar, local or not.

Leave it be. You don’t know if the parents will return

Unfortunately ducks are notoriously shite parents... I kept them for years and was always having to rescue stragglers and return them to their oblivious mothers. They never noticed that they'd gone from double figures of ducklings trailing behind them, to only 4 or 5, due to some stupidly difficult obstacle they'd decided to cross. I'd go back and try to find it if I were you, and take it to wherever the nearest rescue might be...

Go and help it! Find it!

There is a poster on here who has a duckpond, ducks and ducklings. She said the parents often bugger off but they do come back.

@BalloonSlayer

There is a poster on here who has a duckpond, ducks and ducklings. She said the parents often bugger off but they do come back.

Maybe wild breeds are smarter than the Rouens we raised then, as ours certainly never would. The only birds we raised that were worse parents were our Guinea Fowl. Would wander around the whole property in extreme heat and not notice that their chicks were flagging. Each Guinea hen would sit on a nest of about 12-14 eggs and left to their own devices (which we soon learned not to do!!) you'd be lucky if 3 or 4 out of the clutch survived...

@mountainpeakgeek I am sure you are right as you have better knowledge than me. The poster in question was very cross with her mummy and daddy ducks for abandoning the ducklings all night, AND they had a relatively safe environment what with the poster and her DH watching out for them. And of course there is safety in numbers.

I wish I could find the thread again!

Go back, right now!!

Go get it. I've got ducks. The babies die very very fast away from momma, they can fade away in hours.

You know the kids' song 'Five little ducks went swimming one day....'
Many ducklings hatch but only a few survive. It's harsh and the cold winter would probably kill it. If it's in a pond you're unlikely to catch it. I understand why you'd want to though.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/thirty_days_only/4054078-NOT-what-I-expected-to-wake-up-to-this-morning

I went back but there was no sign of it or the parents 😕