introducing muscovy mom to chicks hatched in incubator

stillbeachin

Chirping
6 Years
Jul 1, 2013
14
2
79
how do i introduce a mom to her own chicks? she has chicken eggs under her now which i placed in with her when i put the duck eggs into the incubator for the last week or so. she's in a small chicken house and very aggressive when i go in to change water or give pellets. when she comes out she hunches down and charges all over the place scaring the two other poor hens. but not the drake lol
we are four days from 28 days and two hatched from the incubator already, night before last and this am. 12 hours in i tried to place the duckling in with her, but she is so aggressive towards me i think is why she took a few swipes at the chick a couple of times. so removed it. now it has a friend. i have four eggs remaining in the incubator and mom is sitting on several shicken eggs. at this point i'm very hesitant to put the duck eggs back in with her... i can' supervise them without having my head in the coop. if i have say four ducks hatched in the incubator, the oldest being four days old to newborn, do i try to put them in with her? i would have to move her into a 4X8 coop though so she and they have lots of room for food and water and wandering chicks.
they will be going in with her and then they'll all join a drake and two hens...
what to do???
 
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also there is room in there i could put the clear bin with the two chicks in it under a brooder light, she could see and hear them while she sits on the duck eggs, and do you think she's likely to hatch them already being familiar with the peeps before her eggs start peeping? i had a couple of first time australorp moms freak out and throw chicks out of the nest, peck open a peeping egg, and breaking most of the shell off one still in the membrane. i was able to get them to take one of the chicks, but in the night the other two were peeping and i guess freaked them out enough that they trampled the live one and broke open the one that was peeping, and pecked most of the shell off the third.
not much faith in the first time mothers...
how to introduce them to mom? or wait till they're old enough to run away from the adults? they'll be in separate runs but able to see each other.
 
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also there is room in there i could put the clear bin with the two chicks in it under a brooder light, she could see and hear them while she sits on the duck eggs, and do you think she's likely to hatch them already being familiar with the peeps before her eggs start peeping? i had a couple of first time australorp moms freak out and throw chicks out of the nest, peck open a peeping egg, and breaking most of the shell off one still in the membrane. i was able to get them to take one of the chicks, but in the night the other two were peeping and i guess freaked them out enough that they trampled the live one and broke open the one that was peeping, and pecked most of the shell off the third.
not much faith in the first time mothers...
how to introduce them to mom? or wait till they're old enough to run away from the adults? they'll be in separate runs but able to see each other.
I doubt she'll accept any already hatched but the ones that haven't hatched yet she probably will. When she leaves to eat bathe and poop go in and switch the eggs. Then watch her close to see how she acts. Most likely she'll accept the eggs so when hatching begins you'll just have to be ready to take the ducklings if she doesn't accept them. I would keep her separate from the rest of the flock but where they can all see each other. I had 2 new Muscovy moms this spring and both were awesome mamas. So far I have only had one duck freak out when hatching began and she was a first timer too. You just never know so always best to watch.
 

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