Thanks for your ideas. The boat cockpit has sides that are about 2 ft high, so we could possibly fashion a slide from leftover boat canvas and lower the boat on the lift so they slide into the water. We would need to put them on the top of the slide, and make sure Mama duck is watching so she gathers them in the water. Do you think this might work? Do you foresee any injuries to the ducklings?
They would probably be fine as long as she is watching so that she can gather them in the water. They have been water proofed by the oil on her feathers if she has sat on top of them so they should do well in the water. If we use an incubator with Mallard eggs they have no water proofing so then they would drown. Has she actually sat on top of the little ones before when she has returned to the nest?
The boat needs to stay in the high position in the boat lift because of river tides. The board may not work because it would have to be in the water, which is about 6 ft. deep. No way to anchor the board at the bottom.
I don’t know about her sitting on top of the ducklings, but I think she probably has. When I looked in on them yesterday, Mama was sitting the nest and I didn’t see or hear the three ducklings.
Any way to just gather the ducklings up and put them in the water yourself without dropping them so far down? If their Mama is nearby she will probably take to them that way I would think. I don't know if there is a shore line where she can possibly get them out of the water or not?
i have to find 30 a day LOLOL
We thought about doing this, but worried that they might drown, or that the Mama duck wouldn’t have anything to do with them. I didn’t look in on them last night because they had water and food. Today I had a dental appt and then we went to Tractor Supply Company to buy the duckling crumbles. When we got home later this afternoon we took the crumbles and water out to the boat to check on them. They were gone, and the nest was a little disheveled. Mama duck was swimming around the boat. So, we don’t know what happened to the little ducklings. Either they were somehow moved by Mama, or they were picked off by a bird of prey if they wandered out of the covered area into the open cockpit, which is where the food and water was set up. There was not enough room to set up food and water in the small covered area where the nest is. There was no evidence of them being picked off, but we’re at a loss as to where they are. We’ll look around our yard and the neighbor’s yard and watch the boat ramp road to see if she guides them down the boat ramp into the water. The boat ramp road is right next to our property. So, for now we don’t have the three little ducklings, only 5 eggs that haven’t hatched. I’ll continue to set out water and crumbles in case Mama comes back to sit on the nest. I wish I knew where the ducklings are or if they survived. I hope they’re alright.
That’s what we think, but what? Why was Mama duck swimming around the boat if the ducklings were gone? Do you think she was looking for them, or just staying close to her nest of 5 eggs? Would she decide to move the ducklings but not the nest? I think she would want to keep them all together. I’m going to check on the nest before I go to bed tonight. Hopefully she’s sitting on the nest and the three ducklings are there too. I said I wasn’t going to get real involved because I knew I wasn’t going to keep the ducklings, but here I am trying to think like a Mama duck! I just hope the little ones are okay.
