I need a bit of Broody duck advice? I think my hens tried to kill it.

[JAM125]

I have 4 broody scovy hens, sitting on 14 eggs, this morning I went to check on them and noticed one hatching. When the egg hatched one muscovy came wagging her butt feathers and then the other 3 saw it and they all started pecking it and fighting over the egg shells. I took it out after about 30 seconds and the duckling is now in the house with me. this happend around 11 am is and its about 1:30 pm now (its sleeping and peeping and looks strong). The duckling is fine, but I would like to try to give it back I just am unsure of the best way to do that. Are they bad moms or were they fighting over the duckilng? What should I do for the eggs that have not hatched yet? should I separate all the moms and the nest with some chicken wire or boards? I dont know. This is my first time letting them hatch out eggs, all advice would be appreciated.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You def want to give those broody’s their own space where they cannot see each other my Muscovy do not like anyone in their space when brooding and hatching. As for putting the duckling back you can try but it may not work so be prepared to bring him back inside.

 

[JAM125]

You def want to give those broody’s their own space where they cannot see each other my Muscovy do not like anyone in their space when brooding and hatching. As for putting the duckling back you can try but it may not work so be prepared to bring him back inside.

I think I'm going to kick 3 of the hens out the coop and let one of them Finnish sitting on and hatching the rest. I did introduce it back in and have been watching them?... I'm going to give it 5-10 more minutes before I make a decision. Its only 13 eggs total so one mama should be able to do it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Are they all going to be hatching at the same time or within a few days of each other?

 

[JAM125]

Are they all going to be hatching at the same time or within a few days of each other?

They should all be hatching this week unless they have a stolen egg in there I have about 8 pipping now ( i just checked, as I was kicking one of the hens out). They all just started sitting on one of my hens eggs and they have been sharing the nest.

So I just took out the hen that was still pecking the crap out the duckling and locked the brooding hens and the 1 hatched duckling in the coop, (I have a few coops). So far they have stopped pecking at it. I'm a bit worried at this point they are just trying to kill each others ducklings. I'm just waiting to see who takes in the 1st hatched duckling, to kick the other hens out the coop. If not, I'll just brood the batch in the coop and kick all the moms out.

 

[JAM125]

8

They seem to all be ok now... im going to keep an eye on them though

 

[Miss Lydia]

Only problem I see is when more start hatching they start fighting ducklings are going to get trampled.