ducklings following humans after being raised by a duck

[Luke P]

so back in christmas last year my brother and i each got a day old aylesbury duckling, jemima and puddles. they were the sweetest little things and my brothers drake puddles grew up to be the biggest sook. he would follow you around the yard wanting pats.

then the other night a fox came and killed puddles and my 6 yearold silkie pepper!

thankfully jemima made it out alive! however, now all we have left is a rather sad jemima who thankfully appears to be doing a lot better! but we'd like to get more ducks. problem is it is extremely hard to get our hands on aylesburys! so since the pair were very sexually active we are liking the idea of seeing if she will incubate some eggs if we stop taking the eggs and maybe we'll get more ducklings

so the question of doing so, do any of you know if there is any possibility of these ducklings being anything like puddles was? or do they need to be specifically raised by humans to have that sort of personality? it was the cutest thing to have in the yard and we are all so upset to not have the little pitter patter coming from behind us as we walk outside

 

[chickens really]

Yep..Definitely need to be human raised or they will not human imprint.

 

[Flockandfowl46]

How long since you lost your duck? If it's been too long the eggs will no longer be fertile

Edited. Sorry for your loss hun,wasn't trying to sound insensitive

 

[Jpat]

Check out my post

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nibbler-the-single-duckling.1273267/

I got her at 5 days old and shes just like my little shadow!

It takes alot of comitment and time to raise a single duckling

 

[Luke P]

Yep..Definitely need to be human raised or they will not human imprint.

hmm. i guess i could take a couple to raise with people and let her keep the rest

How long since you lost your duck? If it's been too long the eggs will no longer be fertile

Edited. Sorry for your loss hun,wasn't trying to sound insensitive

we lost him on wednesday morning but there were 2 eggs at the time we hadnt collected so now she has laid another 2 since. i read that they can fertilize up to 10 days after mating?

Check out my post

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nibbler-the-single-duckling.1273267/

I got her at 5 days old and shes just like my little shadow!

It takes alot of comitment and time to raise a single duckling

im not really intending to raise one on its own. we dont have the time for that kind of commitment! jemima and puddles were raised together both from a day or 2 old.

puddles would follow you everywhere but hated being held. jemima wouldnt follow you unless you had food and she was really hungry but loves cuddles

 

[Flockandfowl46]

If you have an incubator or your hen is broody then you have a good chance at a hatch

 

[Luke P]

If you have an incubator or your hen is broody then you have a good chance at a hatch

we dont have an incubator but she keeps wanting to make a nest we just keep taking the eggs when she does haha

at the moment we're keeping her locked away in the chicken box until we either trap the fox or are happy to say its not coming back
shes clumped her 4 eggs together under some straw and has been sitting next to them. so im pretty confident shes planning to lay a couple more then sit on them

 

[HelplessHomeSteader]

We had an attack in August and lost all but one of my 6 Muscovy's to a dog. We ended up buying 10 ducklings from TSC. Best decision we made!!! As soon as we brought home those chicks and put them out front of run and coop to quack and get a little sun. Lucky immediately got excited started wagging her tail and finally came out of the coop after being in there for probably 3 days. I built a wooden brooder with hard colth sides so she could sit next to them in the shed till I felt they where big enough to free range with everyone else. Now there one big happy mixed flock.