can broody duck hatch chicks

[claudiab]

I have a pekin duck that has been setting on a pile of eggs way too long. Apparently they are not fertile. Have an Indian Runner Pair. I suppose the Indian Runner did NOT mate with the Pekin. Today I had chicken eggs hatch in my incubator. I am thinking of removing nearly all of the duck's eggs and replacing them with live chicks. I would remove the duck's water tub for the chicks' safety. Has anyone ever attempted this? Do you think it will work? Any suggestions?

 

[gimmie birdies]

I had a hen sit on and hatch ducks.

 

[claudiab]

I have had hens hatch ducklings, too. And, guineas. But, never the other way around. We just came back inside after making sure our duck was still setting on the chicks. My husband removed her eggs... of course she jumped off the nest BEFORE he had really even started to take the eggs out of the nest! Then put 10 baby chicks in their place. The duck came back to the nest and peeked inside. (The nest is in the bottom part of a plastic dog house) Then she went to the other side of the nest, and peeked in again. After doing this a couple of times, she hopped in! Shew! So far, so good! Fingers crossed! Hopefully this experiment will proceed well!

 

[gimmie birdies]

I love these little ducks, after the mom hatched them, and raised them they eventually went their separate ways but the ducks were always respectful to her and give her a head bob greeting when they saw her.

 

[claudiab]

Well...so much for my experiment! My Pekin duck did fine last night. But, apparently, when it became daylight, she took one look at the chicks and that was that...she was not gonna be a momma to a bunch of chicks! Oh well, at least I learnt something!

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have a neighbor who just gave a call, they asked if I wanted ducks- their baby chicks tried to swim with the ducks and drown.