Broody Chicken with ducklings - advice needed asap!

[Eggcellent8]

Thanks for sharing bilsie! It's always nice to hear the happy chicken/duck stories!

Hmm... Haven't been watering the eggs. Should I?

 

[thomasboyle]

I had a leghorn hen raise 8 mallard ducklings. She did awesome, keeping them under her and warm in the cold weather. I moved them into their own space, and she raised them completely - so much easier than the last batch I did myself with an incubator! She stayed with the ducks until they were adults and could fly. They stayed together for a number of months, 1 chicken with 8 ducks floowing her around!

 

[Johnn]

Thanks everyone for your help! Starting to feel better now about my situation.

Guessing I should probably remove egg #3? Thinking its dead, but don't really want to mess with it incase I miss judged!

Johnn, if I used duckling crumbles, would it be bad if the mother ate them too? Last time I time I raised ducklings, I used Dumor's non-medicated feed, but maybe things have changed since then?
Would appreciate your input.

Also, is it really that safe for the ducklings to be with the rest of the flock as soon as 3 days? Maybe I'm underestimating Broody's protection abilities... And again, I've never done this before. Not trying to question you, I'm just curious.

Thanks again for all the advice! Will keep you guys posted on their progress!

I'm sure she will be fine on them. You could do what I do with my broodies anyways and mix some mixed corn in and she will probably just peck that out. Have a look on Google about whether the ingredient has changed as I don't know :/. I usually put my chicks out for about a hour on day 3 up to day 7. Then after day 7 they are out for good. But its up to you, you can wait longer if you want but you don't have to

 

[bilsie]

Duck eggs are harder than chicken eggs and if they were with a mother duck they would be getting more moisture from her than they do from a chicken. After about two weeks is when we started to add moisture. You can take the egg and dip it into clean warm water or I would sometimes put warm water into a spritzer (spray bottle). Knowing that duck eggs are heavier than chicken eggs we didn't know if "Momma Chicken" would be turning them so we spritzed and turned 2 - 3 times a day. We hatched 4 out of 5.

 

[Johnn]

Duck eggs are harder than chicken eggs and if they were with a mother duck they would be getting more moisture from her than they do from a chicken. After about two weeks is when we started to add moisture. You can take the egg and dip it into clean warm water or I would sometimes put warm water into a spritzer (spray bottle). Knowing that duck eggs are heavier than chicken eggs we didn't know if "Momma Chicken" would be turning them so we spritzed and turned 2 - 3 times a day. We hatched 4 out of 5.

Can't you spray them with a bottle too?

 

[Eggcellent8]

Duck eggs are harder than chicken eggs and if they were with a mother duck they would be getting more moisture from her than they do from a chicken. After about two weeks is when we started to add moisture. You can take the egg and dip it into clean warm water or I would sometimes put warm water into a spritzer (spray bottle). Knowing that duck eggs are heavier than chicken eggs we didn't know if "Momma Chicken" would be turning them so we spritzed and turned 2 - 3 times a day. We hatched 4 out of 5.

Okay, I'll go out and spray those eggs!

(Here's hoping I haven't already messed them up...)

So, the new problem now it that another hen has gone broody on me, and she somehow manages to steal the nest from the original broody while I'm not looking! I've taken her off multiple times, and let poor original Broody get back to her nest. I think I need to find a way to put a pen around the original hen and eggs so this doesn't keep happening. Thoughts?

Oh I really hope I haven't already messed up this hatch!

 

[thomasboyle]

Okay, I'll go out and spray those eggs!

(Here's hoping I haven't already messed them up...)

So, the new problem now it that another hen has gone broody on me, and she somehow manages to steal the nest from the original broody while I'm not looking! I've taken her off multiple times, and let poor original Broody get back to her nest. I think I need to find a way to put a pen around the original hen and eggs so this doesn't keep happening. Thoughts?

Oh I really hope I haven't already messed up this hatch!

We had a similar things happen to our mallards. One duck hen sat on the eggs for two weeks, and then was kicked out by another duck. She sat on them for the 2nd two weeks, hatched them and raised them. The main thing is the eggs are being sat on and being kept warm. Go head and partition the hen and the eggs, so she is not disturbed and can sit on the eggs without interruption.

What day are the eggs on?

 

[gryeyes]

I have ducks, chickens, geese and turkeys in my flock. Oh, and a peacock, too.

Anyway, two of my chicken hens went broody together in the same nest. One of my Cayuga ducks routinely lays her egg in a corner of the coop. One of the broody hens stole the duck egg (yes, hens can and do "carry" eggs) and it hatched along with a single chick.

I didn't do anything special that I don't do for all my broody hens. I provide a waterer and medicated chick starter (which is perfectly safe for ducklings, although they do need niacin added) nearby so mama hen(s) don't have to go far to eat & drink, and when the babies hatch, they don't need to compete with other flock members.

Of course, ducklings grow MUCH faster than chicks, so this gangly, black duckling toddled around with its much smaller, also all black hatch-mate chick. They both snuggled beneath either one of their co-mamas. The hens stayed in or very near the coop for a few weeks, unlike ducks which take their babies out and into the pool I had built for my waterfowl within their first week of life.

ChickDuck has yet to go swimming in the pool,, or even across the property near it. I set up a kiddie pool near the coop when her sister chick was old and big enough to use the rock in the kiddie pool to get out, if it falls in. ChickDuck loves that pool! The co-hens were very nervous about it, hovering and clucking.

I think they did cut the kids loose earlier than usual, because ChickDuck cannot roost with them, but sleeps on the coop floor beneath the ladder roost (but not directly in the line of fire from night time chicken poop).

 

[Eggcellent8]

Eggs are on day 27, and day 23 (I think. Since we didn't plan this hatch, I'm not exactly sure...) I moved them and the hen to a separate pen, and walked away. Came back an about an hour or two later to find that the hen had gone back to the original nest, leaving the eggs cold!

I quickly moved her back, covered the pen, and she's stayed on the eggs since. But I'm wondering if I haven't already killed them by not covering the pen! Oh dear...

Still spraying the eggs. How long does it take them to hatch again? (!)

 

[Johnn]

Ducks take 28 days