I'm from New Zealand and it's duckling time at the moment. A little baby turned up in my yard about three hours ago, calling for it's mummy. This has happened once before, about two months ago, and I was able to find the mum, as she was calling for her baby. However, this time, though the baby was calling, there was no response. I gently caught the baby and spent the next hour and a half traipsing around the neighbourhood, frequently returning to my own yard in case mum had returned. During this time I neither saw or heard the mother, and there was no response at all to the baby's calls. I have been keeping an ear and the door open to listen for anymore calls, but still nothing.

What I really need to know, is how to care for this little guy. I have no idea how old it is, what sex it is, and what food requirements it really needs. I spoke to my friend who is a vet and she said I needed to get it non-medicated duck mash, which I can do when the feed stores open tomorrow. However, that leaves me with a baby duck for 18 hours with no food. What do I feed in the mean time?

I have a large (100cmLx45cmWx50cmH), solid bottomed cage for it to go into, but I'm much more concerned with immediate care. At the moment it seems quite happy to snuggle up to me for warmth. So please help.

He will certainly need a source of heat, ideally from a lamp and even a normal bulb will do. It will need to be hung up so that he can get as far under it or away from it as he needs to. Shavings are ideal for the base but an old towel would do for now. He needs a shallow water bowl that he cannot get himself soaked in (you can pop some stones in it so he can just get a drink from the gaps). Feed wise, he does need some duck starter crumbs or unmedicated chick crumbs. I have to say I have always had them at the ready so have never had to use anything else, sorry. Im thinking perhaps a few wholewheat bread crumbs or well crushed cereal/oats might be ok but I really don't know.

For the meantime some soaked mashed up bread and some very finely crumbled up scrambled egg will do until you can get the duck crumbs. Keep him some where warm - if he is still fluffy and has no feathers yet then he will be fairly young - they start to get feathers within a few weeks. While they are fluffy they are not waterproof so only need water to drink not swim in. He'll need some sort of heat source for a few weeks until his feathers are starting and he has a nice layer of fat to keep him warm. A bit of turf is also pretty popular with ducklings, I raise mine in a cow water drinker tub with a heat lamp for the first week or 2 until they out grow it - so any escape proof container will do!! I put newspaper and wood shavings on the floor, ducks grow pretty fast so by about 6-8 weeks he should have most of his/her feathers , you can't tell wether they are boys or girls until their feathers come through, most species of duck have a curly tail for the drake, other than that you just have to wait for their markings to come through! - Good luck!! Let us know how you get on!

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