Eggstatic ChickyDoo
Songster
TLDR- a pair of older ducklings have adopted a much younger duckling, is this a fluke thing or a possible indicator of future behavior?
The details: A few weeks ago, I volunteered to brood a batch of Pekins for a friend in my makeshift brooder, which is inside my coop, until they were off of heat, with the logic that ducklings are adorable and I already had it mostly set up.
From the beginning, the older ducklings liked sleeping next to the littles, maybe because of the MHP or maybe because of the placement of the brooder. One of the littles was slightly smaller, far more active, and a bit of an escape artist, and would let itself out into the main coop. I'm around a lot during the day this time of year, so I figured I'd keep an eye on them and see how things played out. All four older (about 8 weeks old) ducklings tolerated the little one, but it attached itself to the two Cayuga's (one drake, one hen; there are also two khaki Campbells in that batch, but the duckling mostly ignored them). By the end of the week, the drake started calling back if it started peeping and the hen allowed it to snuggle in under her. By the end of two weeks, she had pulled apart a little from the other "big" ducks and was grooming the baby and showing it how to fish under the water hyacinth. When my friend picked up her ducklings (about 2.5 weeks old), this one cried and ran around so much she offered it to me. It's now a little over three weeks old, and both the drake and hen Cayuga are protective of it, keeping the bossiest hens at bay when everyone is free-ranging together. The female Cayuga has rejoined the others and the five of them run around and swim together as one big flock.
I'd love to hear other people's stories if this isn't just some bizarre fluke- have your ducks or ducklings ever adopted little ones like this? I also wonder if "dad" acting this way because he's head of the flock (like here) or because his favorite hen is "mom" and how much this is an indicator of how he'll react in the spring when there will, hopefully, be more ducklings.
Thoughts?
The details: A few weeks ago, I volunteered to brood a batch of Pekins for a friend in my makeshift brooder, which is inside my coop, until they were off of heat, with the logic that ducklings are adorable and I already had it mostly set up.
From the beginning, the older ducklings liked sleeping next to the littles, maybe because of the MHP or maybe because of the placement of the brooder. One of the littles was slightly smaller, far more active, and a bit of an escape artist, and would let itself out into the main coop. I'm around a lot during the day this time of year, so I figured I'd keep an eye on them and see how things played out. All four older (about 8 weeks old) ducklings tolerated the little one, but it attached itself to the two Cayuga's (one drake, one hen; there are also two khaki Campbells in that batch, but the duckling mostly ignored them). By the end of the week, the drake started calling back if it started peeping and the hen allowed it to snuggle in under her. By the end of two weeks, she had pulled apart a little from the other "big" ducks and was grooming the baby and showing it how to fish under the water hyacinth. When my friend picked up her ducklings (about 2.5 weeks old), this one cried and ran around so much she offered it to me. It's now a little over three weeks old, and both the drake and hen Cayuga are protective of it, keeping the bossiest hens at bay when everyone is free-ranging together. The female Cayuga has rejoined the others and the five of them run around and swim together as one big flock.
I'd love to hear other people's stories if this isn't just some bizarre fluke- have your ducks or ducklings ever adopted little ones like this? I also wonder if "dad" acting this way because he's head of the flock (like here) or because his favorite hen is "mom" and how much this is an indicator of how he'll react in the spring when there will, hopefully, be more ducklings.
Thoughts?
