Introducing the babies to the adult ducks

[Sarah and Joey]

We have 4 Aylesbury ducks (2 girls & 2 boys), they keep laying eggs but neither of the girls will sit on them, so we've hatched some in the incubator.
5 baby ducks are now 2 weeks old, all seem fit, healthy and growing very quickly.
At what age can they go outside and will I be able to put them with the adult ducks - are they likely to accept them into their little flock and look after them or will they pick on the babies??

Thanks for any advice

 

[Mike Winters]

They can easily be best friends just add water and space. they are not like chickens were everyone is a treated as a threat.

and what temperature is it outside

 

[Sarah and Joey]

Thanks Mike, it's approx. 12 degrees at the mo through the day dropping down to 6/8 through the night!!

 

[ducklover87]

With it being so cold I'd wait until they are fully feathered at about 5 to 6 weeks. I just went through this about 5 weeks ago and what I had to do was seperate them. The babies would chase my adults and I've got 15 ducklings and 4 adults. So it was quite a site to see. Although funny I knew it was an issue so I penned them in the yard where they could all see each other but they couldn't harm each other. Then for the first week when they were out in the duck house I keep them penned in half the house. I just divided the house in half and that worked they get along great now and recently started eating together other out of the same bowl. Are your temps in °C or °F?

 

[Sarah and Joey]

Hi, temps are C!!
It's a bit mad here at the mo, one day it's gorgeous sunshine the next it's rainy, cold & forecast snow!!
A fox has been spotted lurking nearby so I'm reluctant to put them out at the moment until we've a extra pen to secure them in!!
And we had 3 more hatch 2 days ago, so think I might wait until they're bigger and put them all out at the same time