Day old duckling afraid of brooder buddies - AGHHHH!!!

[19hhbelgian]

I finally hatched out a perfect little silkie duckling, and he is ready for the brooder. Problem - he's afraid of the chicks

I have 3 day old serama chicks that he is bigger than, and yet he runs in the corner, away from the light, and lets them peck him

Have I caused this problem by holding him? I held him all night because I wanted to spend as much time as possible with him so that he is good and friendly. I've never had this problem before. Now I'm afraid to put him in the brooder, so he's currently helping me type

Right now, he is the only duckling I have. When I put him in the box, he shakes like a leaf - I feel terrible! Advice??

 

[incubatingisfun]

i would screened him off from the others so they can see eachother but cant peck then once they get used to eachother then take the screen away

 

[stirkle]

ducklings will be vulnerable at a day old... you need to sort it out to keep him warm...

 

[froggie71]

It does take time to get them used to each other. If you've been holding him the whole time, then of course he'll be afraid when going from a safe place to a brooder with a bunch of little monsters. I don't know about growth rate of a silky, but our ducklings out grew the chicks rather quickly and soon trampled all over the chicks. We didn't have seremas either, so I don't know their temperment. If the chicks aren't actually hurting the duckling then I would leave him, but keep a close eye on them. If they are I'd seperate. Do you have a red light on them? I could just take the silky off your hands and you wouldn't have to worry about it any more.

 

[19hhbelgian]

Quote:

Well, his name is "Karat", as in 24

Because at this point, that's what he is worth to me

I'll keep them separated but together for a bit. Hopefully another duckling hatches soon so I can just put them in a separate brooder.

 

[Amiga]

Can you find something like a "binky" for him? Perhaps a stuffed toy that he can cuddle into? I would separate them with some hardware cloth or transparent plastic so they can see each other but not have direct contact, and give him something to hide behind so he will feel protected.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
This is exactly what I did with my four chicks and 2 ducklings (until I HAD to put the ducklings in their own brooder because they GROW SO FAST!) The hardware cloth allowed the chicks to see the ducklings and vice versa; they communed through the wire. And once when the ducklings crashed the barrier, everybody was okay because, by then, they "knew" each other well enough.

The chicks had a feather duster on their side, to snuggle into like a mom, and the ducklings had a stuffed parrot dog toy to snuggle against. They STILL love their binky!

 

[PAheart]

did you try taking all of them out and rearanging things in the brooder? that may work with the age differences... :]