Input needed! Muscovy hen sitting on 6 EE eggs for us..... what now?

[katlovesaandw]

Ok, we have a broody Muscovy duck hen.
We picked up 3 laying EE's to add to our flock. When we got them, they had been living with a roo.
Hey, FREE fertilized eggs that we can give to the broody duck to hatch.
That was 1 week ago.
We candled eggs yesterday and deep veining in all 6.
2 weeks left until hatch.

What do we do then? I checked internet and see lots of opinions.

Do we let her raise them? Our chickens, ducks and goats share a giant pen and nowhere separate to put Queen and baby chicks once hatched.

I read that she is heavier than a chicken and could crush the chicks by accident, to remove and raise in a brooder.

Not worried about her drowning them as she is not a big water fan and we have no open pools available.

All things I am reading pretty much say for us to put them in a brooder and raise them.
If that is the best thing to do, then I need to prepare and have a brooder ready.

Input?

 

[five is my dog]

let her raise them. a chicken will raise baby ducks and a duck will raise baby chicks. you dont have to separate them. a mama will protect the babys very well. just keep an eye on them.

 

[katlovesaandw]

Thank you! That is kinda what we thought but then I found ones that were like NO NO NO. We have raised baby chicks ourselves in a brooder. We have had a friend do it. We have bought laying hens. But we have always wanted to go from egg to chick and since these girls came from a house with a roo...AND we had our broody duck, it was a perfect time to try it out. But once we candled them yesterday and they were viable.....we were like well we have 2 weeks to figure out what to do!

What about a food source for the babies? The chicken food is thru the chain link so the goats cannot get it but geared for hens, not babies.

 

[five is my dog]

chick starter feed. you can feed it to the whole flock. get nonmedicated. it wont hurt adults or the mama to eat it. if babys get layer or grown up feed the extra protien can make them sick or kill them. just put a bowl of ground oyster shell out for laying hens. chicks might peck at it but they wont eat it. you can get chick feed and oyster shell at your feed store.

 

[katlovesaandw]

Thanks! We had that when we raised them in the brooder but we had them 100% separate from the hens until old enough.
And we always have oyster shell, got a GIANT bag of it!!

 

[five is my dog]

good luck!!!

 

[five is my dog]

and please post picks of the mama and chickies!!! when they hatch!