How to Save a Premature Duckling

Though not as popular as chooks, more people are starting to keep ducks.  Some just as pets, some as livestock, or maybe like us to sell the  Organic Free-Range Duck Eggs they produce.  And for anyone that keeps poultry, breeding your birds is great but can lead to problems.

For the most part, mother nature can look after itself.  And I’ve learned the hard way over the years that human interference can often cause more harm than good.  Many’s the time I thought I was helping with the birth of one of our ducks and, through a misguided sense to do good, actually caused the death of a hatching duckling rather than save it.

However sometimes you do need to intervene.  If you are a professional farmer of ducks, chances are you already know all the tricks and even have the right equipment to handle things (incubators and what have you).  However if you are a backyard duck farmer like me, you have to rely on your wits and what is to hand.

First off, if the membrane and yolk sac are still intact – do NOT break them!  Chances are there are still blood vessels attached to the duckling.  Just let it keep doing its thing – it can take up to 24 hours for a duckling to emerge.

If the membrane and yolk sac are broken and the duckling seems unable to free itself, just sit tight for a few hours and keep checking on it.  Again, it will probably get itself out.

Now worst case scenario. It’s been hours since the duckling broke through the egg shell, membrane, yolk etc and its still not getting out.  Here is where you may have to intervene.  Chances are it’s premature and it doesn’t have the strength on its own to break out.  At our place this can be a real concern, as we live on a farm rife with tiny ants and I’ve lost more than one duckling to ants pouring into the hole of the shell.  Here is what you do:

1: Take tweezers, or use fingers if you cant find any, and very carefully peel away the eggshell a tiny bit at a time.

2: Once the shell is peeled away, you should be presented with a very wet (and if premature quite small) duckling.  As long as it’s breathing then come away.  Being premature it should take longer than usual for them to get on their feet as it will be very weak.  Keep checking back but try and let the mother duck take over.

3: If you come back and the duckling is still lying in relatively the same spot then it’s time to step it up. Once again, on our farm the ants are horrid so sometimes when I come back I’ll find a poor weak duckling unable to move and covered in tiny little sods all chowing down on both duckling and yolk.

4: Take the duckling inside and prepare somewhere warm. If you have the knowhow then you can try to set up a makeshift incubator with a warm light globe and a cardboard box and pop the duckling in. Otherwise body heat is perfect.  Clean the duckling up as best you can, wrap it in a thin towel and cuddle it to your chest.  If there is more than one person in the house then taking turns is a good idea, as you will need to do this for a while and let’s face it, who has a heart cold enough to refuse to cuddle a duckling?

5: Ducklings often don’t eat for the first 24 hours, but sometimes with premature ones they need some extra strength to make it through, especially if they hadn’t absorbed a lot of the egg yolk before hatching. What I have found works best is to start off with sugar water. Simply dissolve a little bit of sugar in room temperature water. Put this in something tiny and low and hold it under the ducklings beak. Hopefully it will drink something and provide it that little energy boost needed to make it through the coming hours.

6: If the duckling has managed to keep down some sugar water, then you can move on to use a similar technique with chick starter (tiny grey granules fed to young poultry).  Grind these granules up even smaller and once again add to room temperature water.     Once again, it may not eat and drink, but if it does the mix will be perfect for providing it that bit of extra nutrition to survive that it missed out on by emerging early.

7: Despite body heat being perfect, when it comes to bedtime do not take the duckling to bed with you, you might roll over and squash it! Instead take some towels and create a little nest in a cardboard box. Place the duckling inside and very gently lay a light tea towel over the nest.  Ducklings sleep under their mothers wings for the first few weeks and this will be a good approximation.  Having a dark, warm and soft place to rest hopefully should lull your duckling in to having a much needed sleep in order to build up its strength.

8: If your duckling is still alive in the morning, chances are it’s going to survive. Keep an eye on it for a few hours to make sure it is making noise, its feathers have fluffed out and it is eating and drinking.  If so, great!  You should have successfully turned your duckling from this:

To this:

Congratulations!  You saved a duckling!  Now perhaps the hardest part of all.  You have to give this cute fuzzy little duckling back to its mother.  The sooner you return the duckling the better.  The longer you leave it, the harder it will be to reintegrate it to its family and the more attached it will be to you (and chances are you to it).  But if all goes well, within a week the duckling should have caught up with its siblings in size and strength to the point you wont be able to tell them apart.

Now sit back and enjoy watching the cuteness abound.

Got any other tips for helping a premature duckling?  Or want some extra advice?  Pop it in the comments section below!

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