Can a broody chicken hatch duck eggs?

Hello,

Within the last few days my 6 month old Rouen hens have started laying eggs I have raised all five of my Rouens since they were 2 days old (I ordered from a hatchery), 1 drake to 4 hens. The girls are laying but they obviously are not broody since the eggs are not in a nest, we seem to find one here, one there, etc. in the wide open and none of them have become "missing" to go sit on a nest. Our ducks were "released" on our pond from their pen after they were fully feathered, and have taken residence there every since and loving it I must say I would like to see if any of these are fertile so I put them under my broody chicken hen. I relocated her to her own hutch along with the eggs. She has been sitting on them for 3 days now.

My question is:

Have any of you used a chicken to broody ducklings? After they hatch, should I still keep them with the chicken or put them in a brooder w/ a heat lamp? Any tips/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

yes the hens can brood the duck eggs for you. you can leave them with their mother if she takes care of them, if not then have a brooder ready. Good luck.

I am not sure it will work ? I do know however of Ducks sitting chicken eggs. Sadly though the ducklings all followed mom into the pond and - unfortunately the chicks did too, the Ducklings floated the chicks did not. -

I think you might need to remove them to a brood box if you get a chicken to hatch ducklings.

Oesdog - sorry wish I could help more. -

It worked for me! She hatched three out of three! I took the photos before the third duckling hatched.




I later took the ducklings away from her only because I didn't have a cat-proof place for her to raise them...

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Thanks for the fast reply!! I will definately watch to make sure momma chicken is taking care of the ducklings.

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Thanks for your reply How sad Sorry for your loss!!!
This chicken is only sitting on duck eggs, I was actually in the middle of "de-brooding" her when we found the duck eggs, she must feel like she won since I'm letting her sit on some eggs

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Thank you for replying! THANKS FOR THE PICS TOO!! How adorable

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Thanks for your reply How sad Sorry for your loss!!!
This chicken is only sitting on duck eggs, I was actually in the middle of "de-brooding" her when we found the duck eggs, she must feel like she won since I'm letting her sit on some eggs

Thanks for the thought but they were not my chicks - they belonged to a neighbor who has Ducks as well as chickens and the local kids put some chicken eggs under the Duck because the chicken abandoned them it didn;t go well. It is the only cross brooding I know of. THe kids were really upset because they had hatched and all! But the chicks thought they were Ducks so I just presumed in your situation it might reverse and the Ducklings may assume they are chickens - though no water issue there!

Oesdog

My grandmother used to hatch out duck eggs under broody hens all the time. The only problem was when the ducklings would take a swim the poor old broodies would have hysterics!!

Absolutely definitely YES! If she is a good mum instinctively, then she will be a good mum to whatever hatches. My hen Bene has brooded, hatched and raised ducklings for 2 years now and she is fantastic. She does get a bit worried when they paddle in the shallow water tray, but soon gets used to them loving water. She cannot preen them with her oil gland to waterproof their feathers like a duck can, but you just make sure that they only swim while you supervise them until they are fully feathered. It is easy as you just give them a shallow water tray, and then get a bit deeper as they grow.

She taught her ducklings how to forage, protected them from her flock sisters and from overhead predators (perceived anyway), kept them warm, put them to bed at night, passed all the super tasty worms she found to them and generally did all the same things a chick would need that a duckling needs to. It was super cute watching her raise them.

A clutch of chickens eggs takes 21 days to incubate/brood and a clutch of duck eggs takes 28 days (or Muscovies around 35 I think). This means that your hen will be sitting for longer than she would if it were her own eggs. This is fine, but expect her to lose a bit of condition and give her lots of high energy, high protein treats while she broods and for a time afterward. An excuse to spoil her!

Pic below of Bene on hatch day this year.