Duck with chicken momma

[chicksnducks]

aobut 8 weeks ago my banty momma hen hatched two chicks and an ancona duckling. The duck (named after the "famous ChickenDuck" will not stay with his biological parents. I keep the ducks separate from the chickens at night. ChickenDuck tries to hide from me when I go out to put them all to bed. He quacks and quacks and quacks when he is away from his Momma chicken. Am I traumatizing him? Will he ever hang with the ducks? He is bigger than his momma now and it is comical to watch him follow her around!

 

[Varisha]

I don't realy have an answer but a guess.

I bet he imprinted on your hen so he seeks her protectin but when he grows up he will hopefully adapt to being a duck

 

[tiffanyh]

I would tend to agree. No harm in letting him hang with her--although he may have an idenity crisis as he ages, I am sure his instincts will kick in enough that he will want to be around water.

See what some duck people say....

 

[GloriaH]

I would let him be. When he grows up he will relize he is a duck. The funny thing is watching the reaction of the Momma Chicken when he starts to swim.

 

[Wolfpacker]

This thread is useless without pictures!

 

[KingsCalls]

Quote:
Ducklings do imprint on the first "larger than they are" thing they see after hatching. So to the duckling, your hen IS his mother!

 

[picklespickles]

really. let the duck with the chicken. later, it will probably be able to hang out with both. but this is it's family. my duck is the boyfriend of a GOAT. seriously. it follows her around all day long. you would have thought it would want to hang out with the chcikens. no. will hang out with the geese, but his FAMILY are the goats. it even fake eats hay next to them to be part of their feeding time. it sleeps with them at night and would be miserable if i made it sleep with the birds. it has even learned to climb the stairs that the goats do even though it is very hard for it to do. so, i say let nature take its course. family is where you find it.

 

[picklespickles]

ps he still does duck things like swim in the mudhole, eat bugs, and such. so he is still very much a duck. he just prefers goats. lol.

 

[bantymum]

Yes, let the duck sleep with his Mummy!!!
I had 2 ducklings who loved sleeping with my banties, they all snuggled in together.
I cant see any harm in letting chickenduck roost with the banty mum and if you want the duck to be happy, just let her do what she wants. She will grow up later, plenty of time for that!! have fun with them.

 

[Nicki]

I had a Buff Silkie raise a duckling earlier this year and it was the cutest thing!! Darci (the duckling) would quack and holler if I took her even a few steps from her "mama" and Buttercup (the Silkie) would follow me until I put her "baby" down. They were so funny together! Darci really thought she was a chicken and even learned how to climb the ladder to roost. Darci soon outgrew Buttercup so she would just be able to fit her head underneath her mama, but she didn't seem to mind. I got a little kiddie pool to let Darci swim, but she DID NOT want to get in it without Buttercup, so for a while, I sat beside the pool holding Buttercup so Darci could see her...but I kinda got tired of just sitting there LOL, so I eventually put Buttercup in the water too (it wasn't deep at all; she could touch the bottom) I half expected Buttercup to go crazy and try to fly out, but she just calmly sat there and watched Darci have a good ole time splashing around. She even took a quick nap LOL!
I didn't have any other ducks (I just bought Darci from a feed store and slipped her under Buttercup) so I don't know what she would have done when she was grown and put in with her own kind. But I think she would have adjusted. I would leave your duckling with the mama until she pulls away, then put the duckling with the other ducks.