1.5 week old duck dead in nest?

[Avie02]

Hi everyone.

I have a Muscovy girl who sat on 3 eggs and successfully hatched one gorgeous duckling.

Everything was going well and the duckling seemed happy.

I put the two of them to bed last night (in a locked coop, just mum and baby) but this morning I found the little duckling dead in the nest, looking a little flat/sat-on but otherwise perfect.

I’m just wondering what could have happened? And could momma duck have done this?

Momma duck was a little bit useless, well I shouldn’t really say that, first time mom and she did ok but was leaving the duckling on its own quite a bit but I thought that may have been natural given the baby was 1.5 weeks old (I thought she may have been training it to get used to longer timeframes of separation)

Any thoughts? I’m just so sad, it was such a precious wee thing

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It's possible it got sat on a bit too heavily.

 

[Avie02]

It's possible it got sat on a bit too heavily.

Thank you, yes this went through my mind too - I just didn't know if that was a common thing? Especially at 1.5 weeks old, I mean, momma duck has kept her warm each night up until this point so it seems unusual that this should happen now, still, accidents do happen. However, this is our first time raising ducklings/letting momma duck do the work, and she only had the one duckling so I guess I'm just a bit new to the reality of what can happen in the semi-wild Thank you for your response

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Thank you, yes this went through my mind too - I just didn't know if that was a common thing? Especially at 1.5 weeks old, I mean, momma duck has kept her warm each night up until this point so it seems unusual that this should happen now, still, accidents do happen. However, this is our first time raising ducklings/letting momma duck do the work, and she only had the one duckling so I guess I'm just a bit new to the reality of what can happen in the semi-wild Thank you for your response

I don't raise ducks anymore, but I know that my chicks with mama are usually best not considered permanent until they're like 3 months at least

 

[Avie02]

I don't raise ducks anymore, but I know that my chicks with mama are usually best not considered permanent until they're like 3 months at least

This makes me feel a lot better as I was feeling quite upset over it all - the reality of nature can be a bit harsh. I have previously hand raised ducklings and of course, the success rate is fairly high in that scenario but this was the first time we let momma do the work. Do you think I should be concerned for momma duck? She seems ok at the moment, but it has only been a few hours since we discovered the dead duckling, do ducks get depressed or anything after losing their entire hatch (which in this case was the one and only duckling)?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

This makes me feel a lot better as I was feeling quite upset over it all - the reality of nature can be a bit harsh. I have previously hand raised ducklings and of course, the success rate is fairly high in that scenario but this was the first time we let momma do the work. Do you think I should be concerned for momma duck? She seems ok at the moment, but it has only been a few hours since we discovered the dead duckling, do ducks get depressed or anything after losing their entire hatch (which in this case was the one and only duckling)?

She might mourn and look for it, she might not even bother caring

 

[Crazy Maizie]

How small of an area were they in? My muscovy ducks stamp their feet when the ducklings aren't doing what they think it should. It is possible if they were in too small of an area that she could have accidentally stomped it. But, anything is possible when they are that young.
I let one of my muscovy hatch some chicken eggs. Only 2 of 8 survived. But, I realized that she could have accidentally killed one of the chicks that died a day after hatch due to her momma duck actions. I removed the remaining 2 and she looked for them for at least a few days. She also remained broody for a few weeks after that. I had to lock her out of the area so she wouldn't go back to the nest (she chose a chicken nest box). But, she was born to brood and be a momma. I'm sure she would have been a great duck momma. But, I will never know as a few months ago she was taken by a fox.

 

[Avie02]

How small of an area were they in? My muscovy ducks stamp their feet when the ducklings aren't doing what they think it should. It is possible if they were in too small of an area that she could have accidentally stomped it. But, anything is possible when they are that young.
I let one of my muscovy hatch some chicken eggs. Only 2 of 8 survived. But, I realized that she could have accidentally killed one of the chicks that died a day after hatch due to her momma duck actions. I removed the remaining 2 and she looked for them for at least a few days. She also remained broody for a few weeks after that. I had to lock her out of the area so she wouldn't go back to the nest (she chose a chicken nest box). But, she was born to brood and be a momma. I'm sure she would have been a great duck momma. But, I will never know as a few months ago she was taken by a fox.

Hi! Thank you for your comment and I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, that must be so hard as I know how attached you become to them - my girl (momma duck) is about a year old and I raised her from the egg, so I love her to bits! She is such a sweet wee thing and this was the first time she was raising a duckling of her own, we had been taking the eggs (as we always do) and I only stopped when I realized she was broody, at which point she was then only left with 3 eggs which she started to incubate - 2 were clear but 1 began to develop - so, being the only one, we had been nurturing this hatch as best as we could for so long, and once it hatched all was looking great, the precious duckling was surviving so well, and just last night we had a cuddle before it snuggled up to momma duck for the evening! So it was such a shock when I found the little duckling dead in the nest/coop this morning... the worst part is that my 8-year-old daughter is so attached and she's at school at the moment so I have to tell her when she gets home this afternoon

We have our ducks in a fairly large coop, we only have 4 muscovys but I put the other three in a different coop when I realised this one was nesting eggs so for over a month now momma duck has had the coop all to herself (and then just with baby), it is just such a shame as things were going so well

 

[Crazy Maizie]

It is heartbreaking for sure. I got my Mocha when she was just 1 week old. I still have my other original muscovy. I let one of the other girls hatch a clutch of 5 last year. 3 survived. 2 are drakes. 1 was a duck hen, but she was the first taken this spring by the fox. It's been a bad year for me and my sweet ducks. They are now not allowed to free range which is sad because they loved it.
Knowing muscovy, I'm sure you will have plenty of chances to hatch more if you want.

 

[Jaymauli14]

I have 2 musgovy ducks and 1 Drake got 10x 3 week old ducklings (very cute). Other duck is separated in her own coop sitting on 14 eggs. I feel I should have an extra duck as the drake has been caught numerous times trying to mate.