Mixed flock shared nest

[Bolfreak]

Still just one hatched. I have the incubator ready in case of stragglers, but mama is still very protective and sitting, so will check again this evening.

 

[Bolfreak]

She had pooped in the nest and I was worried about Intrepid eating food, so I moved them and put five eggs in the incubator, one externally pipped. One was oozing without cracks and I tossed it (cracked inside a sealed ziploc-bad). I waited until night to candle, only one looked good and was shadowing. Tried to post pics and gif.

 

[Bolfreak]

The Black Pearl hatched last night, spent the night in the bator. It pooped in the bator, so I took it out to mama turkey and its sibling. Seems to be fine, mama is accepting, it just needs to learn to snuggle under her to stay warm. Last egg is still shadowing.

 

[Bolfreak]

Last egg pipped externally (shell only not membrane) last night but all night no progress. Still moving when I candled this morning so I made a tiny hole in the membrane with a toothpick. Don’t want to lose it this close to hatch, but also don’t want to rush it.

 

[Bolfreak]

Finally a bit more progress

 

[Bolfreak]

Queen Anne’s Revenge hatched very quickly after that last photo. I was surprised! Spent the afternoon being spoiled by us and the kids, night in the incubator and this morning joined turkey mama and two ducklings.
The incubator is really gross, makes me think twice about incubator hatching again! I might stick with my broodies

 

[Bolfreak]

Mom gets a little break

 

[Bolfreak]

Everyone’s still doing good, ducklings grow a lot faster than turkey poults! I’ve had to switch out zipties on the first two hatched already.
A “problem” I’ve noticed now as an issue with turkey mom raising ducklings is that at night now she’s ready to sleep on the roost with the turkeys and flies up there. The babies run around the floor confused but I shoo her off and lock her back in the box to keep ducklings warm at night. Once they are able to keep warm just as a group/feathered, I might start letting them in with the waterfowl inside a kennel for safety. That should also help with integration. Mom keeps some of the lesser turkeys away from the babies and all of the waterfowl away. They get to splash in a shallow bowl and mom is fine. Their turkey uncle likes to come eat their food and will peck at them if they get close while he’s eating, but otherwise the turkey adults ignore them. My goose is very curious, but mom won’t let her get too close. I’m hoping this spring being the geese’s first time that means she’ll be a good goose mom.

 

[Bolfreak]

It’s been raining and mom lets them out for a bit to find puddles, but I don’t let them free range yet. They’re not very obedient and like to run around like a pack of racehorses. They don’t react to her hawk call like poults (hide), but they do get still and watch the sky.

 

[Bolfreak]

Mom turkey of ducklings is doing great! The ducks are 7+ weeks old now, so I’m starting to listen to voices to guess what they are. I need a strategy to incorporate them in with my adult ducks, one drake and two ducks that hang out with my Pilgrim pair.
Goose starting laying eggs (fertilized yay!!) which I am allowing to collect in the same nest area my turkey mom sat in and the ducks lay in. I’ve committed duck eggs to HS biology class to incubate, so I collect all of those. Goose currently has 5 eggs (has laid 6 minus the one I cracked to check fertility). It takes her 2-3 days to lay one egg.
Yesterday I found my duck Rayo on the nest and was very noisy at me, although not aggressive and easy to kick off the nest, she didn’t return while ranging. It’s possible she was laying her morning egg, but I don’t necessarily want her to go broody on a nest full of giant eggs
I thought about slowly adding one duck to sleep in the box with the juveniles then increase to all of the ducks when the geese get close to hatching.