The drain the ducklings went into on Wednesday night, sparking the rescue at Sacred Waters apartments in Taupo.

One of the ducklings rescued from a narrow Taupo drain thanks to an empty Wattie's baked beans can

Several ducklings were rescued on Thursday morning from a narrow Taupo drain thanks to an empty Wattie's baked beans can.

Several ducklings were rescued on Thursday morning from a narrow Taupo drain thanks to an empty Wattie's baked beans can.

A duckling sits in the Wattie's baked beans which was used to rescue it.

A brood of ducklings that fell down a hole into a cesspit in Taupo have been rescued thanks to a bit of Kiwi ingenuity - an empty baked beans can.

Attempts to free the group of wayward ducklings began at the Sacred Waters apartment complex on Wednesday night but had to be abandoned by firefighters.

But rescue efforts were revived on Thursday morning with the arrival of SPCA staff and bird rescuers. But it was ingenuity of one of the apartment residents that saved some of the week-old ducklings in the end.

LUKE KIRKEBY/FAIRFAX NZ One of the ducklings recovers after its rescue.

A baked beans can attached with string was dangled down the drain in hope of pulling them free.

While the grand plan was first attempted on Wednesday night, it was not successful due to the ducklings being too flustered.

But on Thursday morning a second attempt with holes in the bottom of the can was and one by one the ducklings were lifted to safety.

At least five ducklings were retrieved but unfortunately two had died overnight.

The saga began when the ducks slipped through the cracks of a grate and tumbled down a 100mm wide down pipe as they attempted to waddle behind their mother down the driveway about 8pm.

A resident in her room at the complex heard the distressed mother duck, Sacred Waters manager Renee Kaiwai said.

"She heard the mother duck going crazy. She was there with one of her ducklings and you could hear the babies quacking down the drain.

"We went down with a torch and saw them down the drain."

After attempting to call the SPCA, she called the local fire brigade, who instructed her to phone 111. She made the call.

"They asked, what's your emergency? I said, We have some ducklings trapped down a drain pipe."

Taupo fire crews were called in and made numerous attempts to reach the distressed ducklings by raising the water levels with a high pressure hose.

When that didn't work they attempted to flush the ducklings out by pumping water down the pipes to a nearby outlet.

Kaiwai and other residents waited with towels to catch the ducklings, hoping they would pop out.

"You could see where the pipe ended, so we were waiting there with a bunch of towels, but there was no water coming out. I am not sure where the pipe went."

Taupo Bird Rescue rescuer Shelley Brown said the rescued ducklings had a good chance of survival.

"They will go into a brooder because they have got to be kept warm and they will stay with us until they are around three months old," she said.