Its a poor and irresponsible thing to do. several reasons. 1 is transmition of disease; 2 its not legal;3 the ones sold in feed stores, et., are not wild, they are domestic which would(further) contaminate the gene pool of the wilds. Its a generally frowned upon act by most who are responsible breeders.

well i live on a lake, and they would be swimming on the same lakes as the other ducks, so i was just wondering if they would fly off with other ducks eventually, or if they would stay home.

Well, it would probably depend on if the other ducks that are out there right now flew away or not. If they all stay then I think your babies might. but, if they don't stay then the babies could fly away too when they grow up~

Any help or comments appreciated--the mother had just started sitting fulltime on her nest of 11 eggs when one night a raccoon ate 4 of them for dinner. The mother did not return for two days and my neighbors and I don't think she will come back? We cleaned up the eaten egg mess. Does anyone have experience with abandoned mallard nests? The mother and father still come around every day but ignore the area where the nest is. Did the mother really abandoned the remaining 7 eggs? Should we save the remaining 7 from the raccoons returning?