Wildlife Clinic
Found an animal?

Your answer

This chick has lost its family and needs a rehabilitator today.

A chick that can walk from hatching still cannot keep itself warm. Many times a day it tucks under a parent to warm up, and a duckling needs its mother to stay dry. Alone it chills within hours, faster when wet or at night. It cannot be put back in a nest, and a family that has moved on is seldom found again. A rehabilitator raises chicks like this alongside others of their kind, which is how they grow up wild.

What to do right now

  1. 01Call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator now. Say what kind of chick it is, if you know, and how long it has been alone.
  2. 02While you wait for their answer, put it in a ventilated box lined with a soft cloth, somewhere warm, dark and quiet, away from children and pets.
  3. 03Follow the rehabilitator's instructions about warmth and about bringing it in.

What not to do

  • Do not give it food or water. A chilled chick cannot swallow safely.
  • Do not let it swim. Without its mother a duckling soon loses its waterproofing, and it can drown.
  • Do not keep it overnight to see how it does.

Change your mind if any of this is true

Any one of these changes the answer above. Call a rehabilitator instead.

  • An adult appears and calls to it.
  • You find the rest of the brood nearby with an adult.

Get professional help

Tell us where you are — your state, then your county — and we will list the people licensed to take it there, nearest to you first. Rehabilitators are licensed by their own state, which is why we ask.

Understand the animal

Knowing why this happens is what makes the next one easier to read.