Chicks died, ducks lived, Weird situation!

[kahara]

I suppose I should start from the beginning. Our Buff Orpington hen went broody again (that time of the year) and she successfully raised five Mallard ducks for us last year. We ended up with a Brahma rooster last fall, so this year she was given ducks AND chicks to raise. I collected the Mallard eggs first and gave her those exactly a week before I gave her the chick eggs. Technically they should have all hatched the same day, but apparently the Mallard eggs had been sit on enough by everyone to start and continue while under the hen. They hatched healthy on Friday/Saturday.

The hen is still on the ducks, thought they run back and forth between her and the food and water. Monday the chicks starting peeping inside, and pipping early Tuesday morning. The first one hatched yesterday while I was away for about two hours between checks. I had noticed it never opened its eyes, and while it hatched on its own fine it was not as energetic as the ducks are when they hatch. It's been years since I've hatched chicks so my memory might be fuzzy, but I thought they would be quicker and more energetic than my ducks usually are. Anyway, when I checked, the baby was barely alive and it seems that the ducks had picked at its face. The skin was missing from underneath its eyes on its checks and under its throat. I did what I had to so it wouldn't suffer, and wondered if it was a chick that didn't develop properly (or the ducks picked it...which is what I found out later).

So checking first thing this morning, three more had hatched and were still wet. One was dead without marks on it, one was dead/one was barely alive with the same injuries as yesterday (I dispatched the alive one). Two more were pipped and nearly out, but again, neither were very energetic and do not open their eyes. Maybe I'm used to ducks...they peer at you from inside their shell LOL. I removed the remaining two and put them under a light where I could keep an eye on them. The temp was over 90F and I wet them a little, but I figured since they were almost out the humidity problem might not be as important as the initial pipping period. I don't have an incubator anyway (her name is Birthday Cake, the hen, lol).

They finished in nearly two hours. Again, they peep but didn't move much. Within a half an hour of hatching, the little black one quietly passed away. The yellow one is now in my lap wrapped in a towel, so it can be warm and watched over. It continues to make happy peeps at least when I move, though it doesn't really try to move/walk and falls over if I try to set it upright. It's barely opened one eye a couple times the whole time, but I suppose that's better than it passing for no apparent reason.

Our chickens are free-ranged and fed quality pelleted food plus appropriate table scraps. They are all healthy and without parasite infestations and such. The hen has a nest of shavings in her own coop. The nest doesn't smell (though I need to change it now because the ducks play in the water). Where did we go wrong in the hatching process? It made things a bit more difficult with the ducks hatching four days before these guys, especially if they picked at the chicks like it seems, but I'm not certain that CAUSED their deaths now. Would those four days of ducks playing in water and going under the been have introduced bacteria to the unhatched eggs enough to weaken them like this? We change the water twice a day, and it's in a coop with a wire bottom and raised above the ground so water/poop/etc. falls through. The ducks are totally healthy and normal, like our hatches usually are. These are the first babies from our rooster, who is over a year now, I think a year and a half. With the exception of one hen who is now a year old, all the other chickens/ducks parents are two and a half. I don't know if age matters.

We have another Buff sitting on her own eggs that are due in about a week, and a Pekin sitting on Mallard eggs. I certainly don't want this to happen again and would like to prevent it if I can.

Thank you in advance for reading this, and for your assistance.

And to offset the bad stuff talked about above, here are the happy ducklings. Their worried momma stopped hovering when they played in the water...she got used to it a lot quicker than last time (you know...chicks aren't supposed to play in water lol):

 

[chkinut]

what a sweet picture!! i wish i had some advice for you. i don't understand it either. sorry i'm no help. i just wanted to say how cute the picture was. and i'm so sorry the babies died.

 

[kahara]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's not every day someone sees a chicken raising ducks haha. She's a great mom, and today is their first day outside of their brood coop. They are having a blast chasing bugs.

The little chick from yesterday is still alive and I wouldn't call it active, but it's better it seems and has actually opened both eyes now and drank a little bit of water. The remaining eggs from the clutch I had put under our other broody hen, and there was a little yellow fluff ball under that hen this morning (she has another week to go). The other died while hatching, and I think the third is dead without ever trying. The remaining chick is stronger than its sibling, but weaker than usual. I placed it with the other chick inside its kennel with towels to stay warm and they are cuddling and making happy peeps. I hope they survive. I cleaned the original hen's nest out to change to shavings, and they were all still relatively clean and looked new - meaning, no nasty smells or obvious bacterial stuff going on.

I know its part of the game to lose some once in awhile, but it's awful to loose so many at once. Especially when there doesn't seem to be a reason for it. If it happens with the second hen's clutch, especially when we've successfully raised ducklings with these hens despite the problems that presents, well...does anyone want a Brahma rooster? LOL

 

[chkinut]

what's amazing to me is that a chicken can hatch duck eggs. Lol! i thought duck eggs needed alot more humidity and i just figure the mother duck supplies that during incubation since she's water fowl. go figure huh? i hatched some ducks out of my bator a couple years ago and my GOSH but they are so cute! i thought baby chicks were cute (which of course they are). but baby ducks?! they are simply adorable!! i wish i could have ducks! but i live in town. i can have chickens, but i doubt ducks.

 

[kahara]

There's definite differences in humidity between the two. Usually the duck mother will go in the water like normal, and bring back water on her feathers when she gets into the nest. Obviously chickens don't do that, but I've found over the years that I can artificially replicate that by misting water under the hen. I also found that if it's not hot weather, I don't have to mist it and she does fine on her own. I had to do that a lot when my previous Buff (now has passed) would go broody in June/July, of all times.

I figure if it's meant to be, they'll hatch lol. This particular time around, I gave her six Mallard eggs and we ended up with four healthy babies - the other two were early deaths with the red ring. Similar story last year, except we had two die hatching (humidity issues for one, the other one split its little beak somehow and couldn't finish hatching...it was weird and sad, maybe stepped on?), and three early deaths (red ring), and five healthy babies. So, she tends to have decent percentages considering what she's up against.

You are so right, the ducklings have their own certain irresistible cuteness! Their personalities are instant too. They are so much fun to watch. I hope you can have ducks again some day!

And our chicken is better at a successful duck hatch than chicks. Go figure.