- May 5, 2013
- 9
- 0
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Hi all,
We've had our flock for just over a year now. We currently have five Rhode Island Red hens that are a year old, four Bantams (three hens; one rooster) that are about 3 months old, and a mama Pekin duck. Our flock was larger (by six Red hens and a male duck), but we lost them all about a month ago in a dog attack
. The flock free-ranges on our farm during the day, and sleep in their coop at night.
ANYWAY.... it seems that Daddy duck is leaving a legacy, and our Pekin has been sitting on her nest of three eggs for almost a month now, so the babies should be hatching any day. We've candled them and can see them moving in there, so I assume all is well. The chickens have not bothered the nest (some have even contributed a few eggs here and there), and for the past few days, two of the Reds have been "standing guard" by the mama as she sits on the nest.
My question is - once the ducklings hatch, do I need to be concerned about the chickens causing harm? Should we move the mama and ducklings to a separate pen? They've all peacefully coexisted for the past year, and none of the chickens have bothered the Pekin or her nest. My only concern is the rooster, but he's still a tot as well (just started crowing this week), so I don't know how "mean" he potentially may be.
The only other thought rolling around in my head is the 20 chicks and 3 ducklings we have in a separate pen that are about 6 weeks old. We'll eventually put them into the coop with the rest, but now I'm concerned about these babies!! (Side note: we never would've gotten three more ducklings if we'd known at the time that she was sitting on three of her own!!!) How protective of them will she be? I am consistently reading that Pekin ducks are terrible mothers and won't even incubate the eggs, but she's definitely proven that wrong so far. Can I assume she'll continue once they hatch?!
HELP! haha!
We've had our flock for just over a year now. We currently have five Rhode Island Red hens that are a year old, four Bantams (three hens; one rooster) that are about 3 months old, and a mama Pekin duck. Our flock was larger (by six Red hens and a male duck), but we lost them all about a month ago in a dog attack
. The flock free-ranges on our farm during the day, and sleep in their coop at night.ANYWAY.... it seems that Daddy duck is leaving a legacy, and our Pekin has been sitting on her nest of three eggs for almost a month now, so the babies should be hatching any day. We've candled them and can see them moving in there, so I assume all is well. The chickens have not bothered the nest (some have even contributed a few eggs here and there), and for the past few days, two of the Reds have been "standing guard" by the mama as she sits on the nest.
My question is - once the ducklings hatch, do I need to be concerned about the chickens causing harm? Should we move the mama and ducklings to a separate pen? They've all peacefully coexisted for the past year, and none of the chickens have bothered the Pekin or her nest. My only concern is the rooster, but he's still a tot as well (just started crowing this week), so I don't know how "mean" he potentially may be.
The only other thought rolling around in my head is the 20 chicks and 3 ducklings we have in a separate pen that are about 6 weeks old. We'll eventually put them into the coop with the rest, but now I'm concerned about these babies!! (Side note: we never would've gotten three more ducklings if we'd known at the time that she was sitting on three of her own!!!) How protective of them will she be? I am consistently reading that Pekin ducks are terrible mothers and won't even incubate the eggs, but she's definitely proven that wrong so far. Can I assume she'll continue once they hatch?!
HELP! haha!
