Duckling help!

[FluffTheDuck]

Okay, so you're probably thinking right now that I just hatched ducks. Nope! We will in March or April, though. And I need advice. We are fixing to hatch 4 more baby ducks and hoping they'll be girls. Miss Lydia and Cayuga Momma can I have your help too? Should I give my soon to be momma a different diet to make the incubating eggs healthier? Do you know if female ducks are more common than males when hatching? Should I keep the drake away from the babies? We have a 4,000-gallon pond for the ducks. Should I get a tiny pool when I hatch them for them to swim in or will the big pool be fine? If I should give them a different diet what should it be? Is it okay if I give the ducks' iceberg lettuce every night? Should I artificially incubate or should I let her do it? If I let her incubate will the drake not kill them? They are Pekin ducks. They are going to be 1 year in March. All the help is appreciated!

 

[Kkrista123]

@Miss Lydia @Cayuga momma

I would say yes, keep drake away. Ice berg lettuce tends to be the least heathy lettuce option but veggies are always great! The ducklings will need something smaller then the pond for a while. As far as hatching males or females it'll be a shot in the dark. Are you ordering the eggs or letting your duck lay them? Ordering I would incubate, if they're her eggs, let her go broody if she is a duck that tends to go broody!

 

[Kkrista123]

Also they will need duckling feed to give them extra protein and niacin in comparison to adult duck feed or mixed layer feed/mixed flock feed etc.

 

[Gerty0630]

The babies will need a smaller bucket or dish or bath tub to swim in as you will need to supervise them. They will get tired after swimming a short period of time and will need to be taken out of the water. The babies will need non-medicated starter feed. Treats like iceburg lettuce every night probably isn't a good idea since it will make them only want the treats and not want to eat their actual feed (I knew better but still experienced this myself bc I love giving my ducks treats haha ). Pekins are not broody so the likelihood of your lady sitting on her eggs to hatch is very slim - you'll need an incubator if you're trying to hatch pekins! Good luck to you! I'm currently in the middle of my first attempted Pekin hatch via incubator.

 

[Kkrista123]

Adults should have a see but no touch kind of thing while meeting the babies until the babies are big enough to hold their own. You don't want them getting picked on. Good luck with your hatchings, keep us updated!

 

[FluffTheDuck]

Thank you all! Pekins I found out aren't very good with incubating. I'm letting my female lay them. I also let them forge about 7 hours a day and taking an hour break after every 2 hours of forging. Once a week I give them peas and they love it. I will try Romaine lettuce instead of Iceberg. During their hour break, I bring them inside and they eat their regular food. At night (around 5:00ish, maybe 5:30 after we do all the other chores) I give them their iceberg lettuce and they eat it, take a sip, eat tons of their actual food, then take another sip as far as I know. Right now it's winter so she lays every other day, except for today when I found out she lays in the bushes right by my house because I let them out at 5:30 in the morning ! I think she prefers a natural nest rather than hay. I looked inside the natural nest and it has feathers, sticks, leaves, and bush leaves with a couple of the bushes berries in it. Does that mean she's broody? We have a brooder in the chicken house that's a see but no touch. Will that be ok or is it too dangerous? We have 39 chickens. Used to have 40 but we had to kill him because he was too vicious. We have a plastic pool I could use or should I use our sink?
Thank you guys for responding so quickly! I am sorry I didn't respond so quickly I had to put up my ducks for their hour break. Gotta watch out for those hawks y'know!

 

[FluffTheDuck]

I also have a little brooder for when they hatch and then they dry. I wait until a week then I transfer them to the see but no touch brooder, but that's for chickens. Will that work?

 

[FluffTheDuck]

Oh and @Kkrista123 thanks for your picture that gave me an idea!

 

[Gerty0630]

Thank you all! Pekins I found out aren't very good with incubating. I'm letting my female lay them. I also let them forge about 7 hours a day and taking an hour break after every 2 hours of forging. Once a week I give them peas and they love it. I will try Romaine lettuce instead of Iceberg. During their hour break, I bring them inside and they eat their regular food. At night (around 5:00ish, maybe 5:30 after we do all the other chores) I give them their iceberg lettuce and they eat it, take a sip, eat tons of their actual food, then take another sip as far as I know. Right now it's winter so she lays every other day, except for today when I found out she lays in the bushes right by my house because I let them out at 5:30 in the morning ! I think she prefers a natural nest rather than hay. I looked inside the natural nest and it has feathers, sticks, leaves, and bush leaves with a couple of the bushes berries in it. Does that mean she's broody? We have a brooder in the chicken house that's a see but no touch. Will that be ok or is it too dangerous? We have 39 chickens. Used to have 40 but we had to kill him because he was too vicious. We have a plastic pool I could use or should I use our sink?
Thank you guys for responding so quickly! I am sorry I didn't respond so quickly I had to put up my ducks for their hour break. Gotta watch out for those hawks y'know!

My pekin built a very lovely straw nest. She lays in the nest every single morning but has never once sat on them. Lay it and leave it kinda gal haha. So just bc she builds a nest doesnt mean she will be broody! But worth a shot I know some people have a rare broody Pekin! I've not heard Pekins are hard to incubate either?? Mine are day 8 now in the incu so stay tuned

 

[FluffTheDuck]

I will!