Thank you. They have not tried to swim on their own. I have put them in the pool and she did not seem to mind at all, although they did not stay in the pool long. I believe she has discovered that they are not chickens though. She has been taking them closer and closer to my ducks each day...
Thought you guys might get a kick out of seeing my LF Cochin with her ducklings. They have grown larger then her but she still insists on mothering them. They are now 6 weeks old and I plan on giving her 2 more weeks with them and if she has not let them go then I will separate them.
I think this has a lot of factors that go into it. My hen hatched 3 chicks and was off her nest, off and on, trying to take the 3 chicks to explore, when her egg was peeping and I thought there was no way it would ever hatch but I let her set on it overnight and in the morning she had a healthy...
I raised my last broody chicks with the flock and she never let anyone hurt them. My hen took care of any other chicken that came close to them. Jewel, my hen, never left the flock, she sat on her eggs in the nest box and when they hatched she raised them under the coop in a dog house, in the...
Jewel is still doing well with her overgrown chicks with funny feet and beaks. LOL They are 2 weeks old now and she has decided they are old enough to venture outside. I hope she does not go broody again this year because I will have to break her, she is starting to molt and needs a break for...
Here is a few pics of Jewel with her ducklings.
Today's lesson dust bathing. She must think they are very slow learners since she has been trying to teach them to scratch for several days now. I think she decided to move on to the next lesson and hope they will eventually catch on to...
Anyone have any experience with ducklings with eye problems? My broody hen hatched 6 ducklings so far and one ducklings eye is sealed shut on one side and looks swollen but could just be normal size when the eye is shut. Here is pics
Bad eye
Good eye
Well my broody hens duck eggs are peeping. It seems like she has been sitting forever. I am sure she is happy they are peeping. I will get pics once they hatch.
I think it depends on our hen but if she has been a good Mom and is still broody she should take it back to where she feels it is safe. My hen took her chicks back to their area each day until she felt they were old enough to roost in the coop. She started introducing them to the coop when...
Thank you, I wanted to make sure I am doing everything right. I already do all those things from advice given to me on BYC. I was worried about giving my LF Cochin 12 eggs, but I guess it is not too many. None have broke and one was pulled at candling because it was no good. She covers them...
I candled my eggs today at day 7 of her sitting on them and 10 out of 12 are developing. The other 2 I was not 100% positive about so I marked them and will decide if they are developing good on the next candling.
I bought hatching eggs for my hen locally. She is sitting on a dozen Indian runner duck eggs. You can also have them shipped but the hatching rate is usually not as high. I do not think stores sell them, I found mine on craigslist from a farm that's flock was NPIP certified.