Beccazon
Crowing
A short while back FIVE of my 16 mature birds went broody. 2 ducks, 2 standard chickens and 1 bantam. My runner, my runner kc cross, an RIR, my RIR brahma cross and my booted bantam. No roo in the chicken flock currently so that made me sad for the hens. Fertile duck eggs for DAYS though lol. While I was waiting for a friend to deliver fertile chicken eggs, I gave 2 of my hens a couple duck eggs. My runner started sitting and was joined about a week later by my kc cross. Same nest...til the end. My banty and my RIR cross got duck eggs. My RIR took to the woods and her nest could not be found. Once it was, it was not within reach to move or destroy. (Her story later). Fertile eggs arrived a week later...but what to do with the 4 duck eggs under my hens? I have no idea why, but I gave 3 to my banty and slipped the one I knew was the same gestation, to my duck ladies.
My RIR cross got the fertile polish eggs. All first time broodies...and me a first time broody caretaker...I had no clue how this would play out and learned a lot along the way. Loved all of this!!
Flash forward...
Duck babies hatched first. One I had to take inside and help because the ducks are crazy protective and spastic and I think cracked one early who was starting to dry out! It did fine and I gave it back as soon as it hatched fully.
My banty was next, and that was 4 days after I moved her nest for safety. I scooted her to one area of the brooder section of the coop. She was annoyed but settled in quickly and hatched her duck babies like a champ! My RIR cross...the other hens insisted on checking out her nest every time she hopped off...which was sometimes 3 DAYS from the last time. At one point near day 17-18 I opened the hen house in the morning to find someone else on her nest and her sitting above...irritated. I moved the intruder...who is always the brat...and...an egg was gone. GONE. With NO trace. I cleared everyone out and she got back to sitting. That’s when I realized we had a mite issue in her nest. I moved her nest and then her to the other side of the brooder area and dealt with the mites.
At that point we had 3 ducklings under my banty happily, 5 of 7 healthy under the duck girls (the first one they smothered the day it hatched on a 95 degree day and one left to hatch). And soon thereafter my RIR had just one viable egg (one had quit a werk from hatch and the other had just disappeared).
The last duck egg under the duck ladies pipped and started to zip then never progressed over the next 48+ hours and got impossibly dry. I took it inside and we had duckling number 6 for the ladies! Gave it to my banty as my duck mamas were just too active with 5 other older babies. RIR cross had her hatch 2 days later.
Now, a banty raising ducklings is cute! But at currently almost 4 weeks, you can imagine, they are bigger than mom! And I have 2 duck moms. Yesterday, after several days of banty mom distancing herself from her babies more, my runner mom, who shewed banty and babies away all month decided she was going to go be their new mom. Everyone seems perfectly happy with those changes. Idk if banty mom’s instinct said they were bigger than her now so her job is done, or she realized they weren’t chickens, or runner mom thought those babies sure looked like hers so she should be nice. But here we are!
This has been the neatest learning experience for me! I did learn two bummer things though...one, natural hatch babies are more human hesitant...so giving any to friends even just days after hatch is far different from incubated babies. And two, handling 4-5 broodies at a time is challenging lmao.
My RIR cross got the fertile polish eggs. All first time broodies...and me a first time broody caretaker...I had no clue how this would play out and learned a lot along the way. Loved all of this!!
Flash forward...
Duck babies hatched first. One I had to take inside and help because the ducks are crazy protective and spastic and I think cracked one early who was starting to dry out! It did fine and I gave it back as soon as it hatched fully.
My banty was next, and that was 4 days after I moved her nest for safety. I scooted her to one area of the brooder section of the coop. She was annoyed but settled in quickly and hatched her duck babies like a champ! My RIR cross...the other hens insisted on checking out her nest every time she hopped off...which was sometimes 3 DAYS from the last time. At one point near day 17-18 I opened the hen house in the morning to find someone else on her nest and her sitting above...irritated. I moved the intruder...who is always the brat...and...an egg was gone. GONE. With NO trace. I cleared everyone out and she got back to sitting. That’s when I realized we had a mite issue in her nest. I moved her nest and then her to the other side of the brooder area and dealt with the mites.
At that point we had 3 ducklings under my banty happily, 5 of 7 healthy under the duck girls (the first one they smothered the day it hatched on a 95 degree day and one left to hatch). And soon thereafter my RIR had just one viable egg (one had quit a werk from hatch and the other had just disappeared).
The last duck egg under the duck ladies pipped and started to zip then never progressed over the next 48+ hours and got impossibly dry. I took it inside and we had duckling number 6 for the ladies! Gave it to my banty as my duck mamas were just too active with 5 other older babies. RIR cross had her hatch 2 days later.
Now, a banty raising ducklings is cute! But at currently almost 4 weeks, you can imagine, they are bigger than mom! And I have 2 duck moms. Yesterday, after several days of banty mom distancing herself from her babies more, my runner mom, who shewed banty and babies away all month decided she was going to go be their new mom. Everyone seems perfectly happy with those changes. Idk if banty mom’s instinct said they were bigger than her now so her job is done, or she realized they weren’t chickens, or runner mom thought those babies sure looked like hers so she should be nice. But here we are!
This has been the neatest learning experience for me! I did learn two bummer things though...one, natural hatch babies are more human hesitant...so giving any to friends even just days after hatch is far different from incubated babies. And two, handling 4-5 broodies at a time is challenging lmao.
