- Jun 14, 2010
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After a longer time than I expected, at last my Cayuga hatched out five babies this past Friday. She's a very protective mom of very cute (of course) babies. I kept them apart from the other five ducks and one goose until today, when I decided to let them all free range together (everyone is closed in at night). Big mistake! One of the 2 drakes was determined to mate with Momma, who took off running, with him in hot pursuit. He seemed very aggressive when he caught up with her. There was a lot of distressed quacking from both mother and babies, who became separated. I drove off the drake and saw to it that mother and ducklings were reunited. Stubborn (or foolish) me decided to wait and see if this situation might abate, but there was a repeat performance a bit later on. So everyone's back to separate quarters (inconvenient, because I'm not yet really set up for this). My question is for how long they will need to be kept apart, so that I know whether I have to build another pen. And when will it finally be safe to bring the whole flock together?
I've had my ducks for a year and this is the very first brood, so any guidance would be much appreciated!
I've had my ducks for a year and this is the very first brood, so any guidance would be much appreciated!