how long?

mamaduck1616 said:

My mama scovy has 17 ducklings that will be 4 weeks on Wednesday. My question is how long do scovies usually mother? These are the things Ive observed the last few days:

1. She sits/stands by the gate to the run where my drake and 2 other females are.
2.She has laid 4 eggs in the last 2-3 days.
3. She doesnt sit them any longer and I dont see them snuggle up to her much at all.
4. She doesnt rush right to them if they peep
5. She doesnt let them eat first now she rushes to the feed/water.

She has mated with my drake. I let him into the duckling run for "visitation" but am always right there with my hearding stick and I step in if hes getting a little to aggresive. But for the most part he just walk with mama. Can I seperate her from the duckings and put her back with the flock?

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Miss Lydia said:

I'd say she is done. usually once mine starts to lay they have finished. Let her with the adults and see how she is for a while most likely she has done her job. 4 weeks is a good time for them to be on their own.  it may take the adults a while to accept the ducklings as part of the flock. I usually let mama and ducklings be with the adults at 3-4 weeks.

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mamaduck1616 said:

Ok thanks! I started letting Donald visit with the babies and mama last week in hopes of being able to merge the two runs (they are connected) as we are almost finished with the new much bigger duck coop. As I said he seems more interested in spending time with mama then with the ducklings. I have another question mama and oreo hatched these ducklings together. Oreo was seperated due to being way to agressive. Since the hatch she has flown out of her run presisted in trying to get into the duckling run (I fully covered it so she couldnt get in even if she got out of her run). Ive been nervous to allow her with the ducklings. should I let her in (with supervision) and see how it goes? My third hen is sitting eggs so she doesnt care much about the ducklings.

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