Well it’s almost exactly two months since two orphaned Mallard ducklings were left for us to look after.

And a few days ago the first one decided it was time to leave and flew off. The second one flew away yesterday. They can fly well at 50-60 days and since we have large bodies of water very close I presume that’s where they’ve gone.

We didn’t keep them caged (although we gave them somewhere to hide in case foxes, weasels or cats came around) and they were free to leave whenever they wanted.

Luckily they didn’t seem to imprint on us and although they were very friendly and would sit on a blanket in the garden with us, and regularly came into the house looking for something to munch, we never picked them up and slowly fed them less and less so they learned to forage for their own grub.

They got along fine with the chickens (in the pic you can see them noseying around my wife’s workroom) and free-ranged in the garden all the time.

The kids were a little upset but always understood they were never pets or anything, but it is a little sad to not have them waddling around any more, even though it’s MUCH better that they leave.

Great experience though – wouldn’t have missed it.

Good luck ducks!

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