I would say that if you don't see the mother in a few hours, you may want to box up the babies and take them home if you can, or to a wildlife rehab center if you can't take care of them...in case the mother got killed somehow. Is it possible that the location of the nest/ducklings is making it impossible for the mother to get her babies to follow her away from the nest, such as a ledge that the ducklings can't get over?

are the ducklings on the 14th floor balcony, or are you seeing them from your 14th floor balcony, but they are on the ground?

what if you put them in a wide but shallow container and leave them on a grassy area below the balcony. Babies usually scream pretty loud, so their mother may hear them and come for them.

Thanks for the replies. They are on the 14th floor balcony here and there is no way they will be able to get down on their own ( it's about a 15-20 foot drop between balcony floors) I think I'm going to take them into a shelter, there's a great wildlife sanctuary in the area that can make sure they get the care they need. Thanks very much for taking the time to help me out.

You are lucky if you have a wildlife sanctuary in your area. I found a broken wing duck one time in my back yard, and I had to pay to put it to sleep, because nobody would take it. Our sanctuary was overloaded.

Given the distance I'm glad you displaced the ducklings to a sanctuary.
I've watched some wildlife programs showing those ducklings dropping quite a distance, onto both water & land, with no injuries. I guess their pretty light & somewhat cushioned for the fall, nature provides.

Silly mama duck though. Must be some predators in the area she was worried about. I think I might have offered her the chance to re-claim them from the ground though before removing them completely.

I'm not bashing your decision, just offering another step one might take if they had the time and resources available should they come upon this situation in the future. Sometimes life gets busy & we need to act now, and I respect that. By removing them as you did you know they ALL have a great start, and it's not left to chance.

Good job for caring enough to act on their behalf!
Brendasue

There is only one breed of duck that lays eggs on a cliff wall that can take the fall. And many of them get killed from the fall. regular ducks will probably get killed falling from that height. 14 floors at 10 ft per floor is probably about 140 ft drop.

Best to rescue the ducks asap they need moisture asap or they will get dehydrated and dry out and die. Also if they start to get dehydrated it can be hard to get water back into them with out intraveinus water.