Can I brood a single duckling with 3 week old chicks?

LocaFarmMom

In the Brooder
Aug 21, 2019
6
3
14
Central Texas
I have a mixed flock of adult ducks, geese, and chickens, but have always brooded the chicks and water babies in separate groups. But now I have a situation...

Due to some unfortunate shipping, I have a single duckling arriving today instead of the several I ordered. I am currently brooding 9 chicks that are about 3 weeks old. Is there any way to brood the duckling with the chicks so it doesn't get lonely until I can figure out how to get more baby waterfowl? I know that the water setup will be a major challenge, so I'll need to do some brainstorming on that. I'm leaning towards having a separate duckling brooding container and just see if I can socialize the duckling with the chicks with supervision during the day.

Also, should I try to separately introduce the duckling to the adult waterfowl early if I cannot get more babies soon? Or will my single duckling grow up thinking it's a chicken? ;-)

Any advice welcome!
 
I tried raising a single Duckling with chicks. Was hard to keep things dry for chicks. Eventually the Duckling killed a chick by breaking its neck. Ducks grow fast.
Thanks for the insight. Those are also my concerns. I'm hoping that with brief, supervised interactions, and the fact that the chicks are slightly bigger and older, the duckling might be able to socialize a bit. But I've decided to set up a separate bin to brood the duckling. We'll see how it goes!
 

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