?'s about ducklings(long-sorry)

19 years ago

Hi all, been lurking here for long time, ashamed to say how long. Love your forum, tons and tons of reliable information! Right now we have 2 dogs,3ducks,2parrots,2cats and 3horses. Your forum makes me crave more animals than my hubby can take...goats....a cow...oh and chickens....definately want chickens....so far hubby says he is drawing the line at monkies, but who knows, maybe some day! =D

Im sure most of my questions have been answered on here before, I just can't seem to find the posts. We have 1 adult pekin and 2 Indian Runner/Pekin mixes who are hatching out ducklings as I type. Last check there were 7. Here goes my list of questions:

How long til everyone that is going to hatch, hatches out?(1 of the eggs in nest looks dark, like it went bad)There are 12or13 more eggs between the 2nests.

Can we leave the babies in there for mommas to raise or should we remove them and set up our own brooder?

If we leave them, how close to nest do we put the chick feeder&waterer? Do they still need a heat lamp if they are tucked in cozy coop with momma?

Is it safe to put Bill(daddy)in with them at night? Mommas nag at him and he goes to his own corner of the pen, least that is what has been happening since they started sitting. He can't even look in their direction or they go to yellin' at him, he looks embarrassed and settles in his own spot.

Do we leave the egg shells from the ones that have hatched or try to clean them up?

Thought I had read runners and pekins won't sit, but these two seem to have a knack for it. Their nests are side by side and the babies are switching back and forth, is that a normal all in the family thing?

Everyone is locked in tightly at night, during the day the hatch is open and there is access to a small pond. Will the mommas know when it's ok for them to come out or do we need to police what is going on?

A point in the right direction of which posts to search or any info you have would be much appreciated!

Thanx for your time,

Sussy

Bill:

{{gwi:35063}}

Pretzel&babies:

{{gwi:35064}}

Squirt&babies:

{{gwi:35065}}

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Comments (6)

GennyM
19 years ago
Hi and Welcome!

When my muscovy eggs hatched (I had 13 to hatch) it took a few hours. But, one time I had a muscovy that only had one egg to hatch and it took all day long! So, it can take anywhere from a few hours to all day once they start hatching.
If the eggs is dark then it is probably a bad one, but I'd leave it in there for a while until the others hatch just incase.

Where are the babies? Outside? In a shed/barn/room? In your house? You can leave them for the moms to care for; they will take care of them, but I took my babies and raised them myself.

I don't think they need a lamp if you let them stay with the mom. Ducks in the wild don't have a lamp.

I took the shells away after they hatched. I also heard those kinds won't sit good, and I have also heard that khaki campbells won't sit on their eggs either, but I had a KC lay some unfertile eggs and she sat on them faithfully for several days until i just decided to take them.

Yeah, I think she'll know when the babies can come out and swim in the pond. It's her instincts; she'll know :)

Your ducks sure are pretty! Bill reminds me of my pekin I use to have named Apple

Genny
sussy
Original Author
19 years ago
wow..this was harder than I thought. There were many more eggs hidden down in the hay, most were already turning dark.
One nest had no shells so that duck is not a momma, she just thinks she is and has claimed the babies, stressing the other momma out.
The Mommas took the babies out for a walk and things went hay wire. Everyone was chasing everyone else and the ducklings were scooting along trying to keep up.
Bill kept picking up babies and running with them......errr..is he just daffy?does he want to kill them?does he maybe think they are hurting his gals?
Now have the not really a momma and bill in regular pen(back of barn)and momma w/babies in seperate room.
How long should I keep everyone apart? Few days? Until they can say DaDa so he knows what they are? Will the fake momma still fight the real momma for these ducklings?
Should I just give up and raise the babes myself?

Thank you for sharing your experience Genny! Love that Apple name,if we had named Bill after his fav he would be known as Tomato. =)
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beeliz
19 years ago
Hi Sussy,this is a cool experience! I want to have ducklings this spring too..but I don't know if I can keep all the babies. What do you do with them all? Can they live happily together even as adults? Or do you have to place them? hmmmm,I'm fairly new at this too:) your ducks are adorable!!
sussy
Original Author
19 years ago
k.....our bathroom is now known as the brooder room. momma doesn't want the other duck to have em' but she doesn't want them either. took her all of 3minutes to forget about them and go on with her life.
hopefully when they are big enough, putting them back will not be another uncensored episode of "ducks gone wild".
also have a mare going to foal soon(new to that scene too)and our parrot has decided riding the sheppard/lab mix around would be cool, the dog thinks otherwise.

hubby looks like he could use a valium instead of lunch today, hehe
patrick_nh
19 years ago
You need to get yourself a good book. Start with Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread. It's the best out there, and should answer all of your questions. You're making a lot of mistakes, and it'll save you a lot of frustration and heartache.
sussy
Original Author
19 years ago
Every book I've found so far is geared towards production in one form or another. Most websites also. Easy to find general information about housing, feed and health. Raising ducklings is popular on google....harder to find, emptying their nest or teaching them to mother.
We moved to 10acres in tx from 1/4acre in nj and are very new to livestock, taking care of acreage and country living. Trying to be responsible and take it slow adding new animals, though it is tempting to load every square inch.Read all we can so we don't have all suffering guinea pig type animals instead of farm pets. Have actually had one of Holerread's books and resold it on ebay after these ducks were grown. Think it may have been one of the ones with duck recipes in the back. Is there such a thing as farm pets?
Any obvious mistakes we can fix now before more damage is done? They all seem content tonight, 3 grownups are nestled in and quiet and babes are eating/drinking here and there and not peeping constantly.