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about 10 days ago my older Cuckoo Maran hen hatched out 2 bantam chicks. One I found dead under her--I think she stepped on it. The other was OK. This hen has mothered other chicks (and ducklings) and has been a good mother. But she has seemed restless and because she is large I worry about the...

We are in the country, have a mixed, free-range flock--full size and bantam chickens and ducks. A friend n town has a nesting mallard in her yard and the mother seems to have left with two hatched ducklings. If she has left, I would like to candle the remaining eggs and put those that are viable...

1) Yesterday evening we found the foreleg of a very small deer on the front sidewalk. This morning it was gone. 2) This morning the chickens' large metal feeder had been tipped over and moved about 15 feet from where I left it. 3) A couple of days ago a 6 wk old pullet "disappeared". 4) In the...

Two weeks ago, a small mink (trapped later) killed 10 of our chickens and 2 ducks. A Welsh Harlequin--Athena-- was badly hurt with some kind of neurological damage--two bite marks on her neck and she cannot straighten her neck. I was able to get her to a vet 4 days after and b/c she kept...

We have 5 Welsh Harlequin ducks (4 female 1 male), 6 months old. In the last couple of weeks, I've found 4 eggs but don't know from which ducks. Today, one female seems to be in some distress--standing alone--seems she may be trying to lay an egg. I watched her for awhile and saw some clear...

My husband bought hummingbird nectar for the bird feeder and the hummingbirds want nothing to do with it (back to making my own). The commercial nectar has added vitamins etc. Would it be ok to add some to the chickens' waterer?

We have a mixed flock of chickens and 5 Welsh Harlequin ducks (5 months). All birds are together in the barn (two rooms, no door between them) and night and free range during the day, though ducks and chickens sleep in separate rooms. I have pine shavings in the chicken area and cut grass in the...

We have 7 Milles Fleurs bantams, 6.5 weeks, now in a large cage in a barn. I put a heat lamp on at night (temps mid-70's). They seem feathered out. I have a large outdoor cage--on grass--with attached small dog house with raised floor for night shelter. Days are warm--80's, nights low 60's. I'd...

We have 5 two-month-old Welsh Harlequin ducks (1 male, 4 female) in one room of the barn with an outside pen and 40 some mixed flock chickens in the room right next to them. There is a screen door between them so they are used to each other that way. Chickens have always been free-range but...

I got 5 WH ducklings 4F, 1M) a month ago from Murray McMurray. They have always had access to shallow water, in a clean paint tray, deeper over time--now 4 inches--by their food. We have had many call ducks, hatched by ducks and broody chickens and they were in water then swimming quite...

today got 8 Milles Fleur bantam chicks from My Pet Chicken. All seemed healthy, drank lots of water and ate. Tonight one seems ill. eyes closed, weak. She is in my hand now. I have 4 broody hens (not bantams but we have had hens hatch out and raise ducks and bantams) in the barn. Should I put...

We have flock of 50 mixed breed chickens, old and young, including a few bantams, totally free-range.. Until last year we had call ducks and always had them with the chickens. We had broody hens hatch out call duck eggs when the ducks stopped setting and hens raising ducklings. We didn't clip...

We have 7 call ducks (2 female, 5 male), 45 chickens that free range during the day and come in the barn at night. Three drakes (6 months) that hatched this summer were no-shows at bed check a week ago. We found them swimming in our small and shallow river, about 300-400 feet from the barn. The...

My call duck set on 8 eggs until today, day 28. Two ducklings have hatched. One is in the nest with the remaining eggs. The mom is pacing around indoors with the first-to-hatch duckling following her. The mom is one of 4 ducks who have access to a pen outdoors. This morning I closed off that...

Last night I checked eggs under broodies and found a new chick--so weak I thought it was dead, but it wasn't so I put it back under the mom. This morning it was fluffed out, normal sized (though I hadn't expect this egg to hatch yet), but still very lethargic, one eye not opened and some...

I have three broodies right now, in side by side by side nesting boxes. I get them off their eggs (3 each) every day and check on the eggs. The eggs under one hen are not as warm (I just hold them to my cheek) as the eggs under the other two. This is her second round--her first eggs either...

Five days ago my 5 week old call duck was attacked by a raccoon--all the feathers on her back are off and a couple of spots at the joint of her wings. I got antibiotic ointment from the vet to apply to the areas that are red. She said I could put her back out with the others but the duck...

My one call duck has laid 12 eggs now. I have a silkie hen who has just gone broody. If I put 3-4 of the eggs under her, I'm pretty sure she'll set the 28 days. If they hatch, will she raise them? Most all of all of our chickens have been mom-raised. How will the ducks learn to swim? I'd be...

Till 3 some months ago we had 4 call ducks--2 males 2 female. They have paired up. April we had a hatch of one female and for a couple of months she and her "parents" hung around very compatibly. Then the other male esp would give her no peace chasing her down to mate. She would just hide out...

I'm very familiar w/ broody hens and separating them from others and care and protection for hen and chicks. I'm new to ducks except for an orphaned wood duck that we raised w/some chicks We have 2 female and a male in a barn (separate from the chickens) with about 8 bales of straw; they have...