Buff Duck raising a White Layer

[Goldfire7]

Hello, Its been a while since I've been here.

My Buff Orpington duck was once fertilized by a White Layer male but the babies died when they hatched and it was a tragedy and the mother went insane. A month later I decided to give her three White Layer fertile eggs to put in her nest of unfertilized eggs so she would calm down. She has been sitting for 28 days.

Today the eggs are starting to hatch. My question is, Will she be racist or mean to her babies because they aren't hers? Will she be able to tell any difference? She absolutely hates those White Layer Ducks so I don't want her to murder her babies when she finds out they didn't come from her own eggs.

 

[sourland]

How did the first ducklings die - this may indicate whether or not these will survive. She does not know that the eggs or any ducklings that may hatch are not hers.

 

[Goldfire7]

I think they died because they were mixed bred but I am not sure as I have not had ducks mate and hatch before. The White Layers came from Metzers as eggs and were hatched by me. The Buffs were already hatched and came in the mail.

They did not look healthy when the first ones hatched and I did use an incubator too. (I think I messed up) These eggs are purely being hatched by my Buff Duck. The way it looks so far, the eggs seem pretty healthy.

Thank you for the response.

 

[sourland]

Good luck for a successful hatch.

 

[casportpony]

I think your duck will love the ducklings she hatches, so I wouldn't worry, but do keep an eye on them and make sure she keeps them warm.

 

[Miss Lydia]

And watch her and ducklings with the rest of the flock, you might want to give her and ducklings their own separate space for a couple weeks so everyone gets use to each other. My Muscovy females hatched Runners and Buffs and they were madly in love with their babies.

 

[LoveMyChickenBabies]