Ducklings In the Coop

[MarshyRooster]

I'm having a bit of a problem with ducklings moving to the coop. A while ago, my family got four ducks. A long time after they started laying eggs (well, the one female who laid a ton), my dad and I bought an incubator and put two duck eggs in. While they were in the incubator, their mother, Monti, passed away. We don't know how... the ducklings have already visited her grave. But anyway, around an hour ago, I put the ducklings in the coop with my dad, and not only did the older ducks not claim them, one of the hens jumped on top of one of them! It made everyone in the coop panic- it really scared one of my roosters, Max. I think he was frightened for his hen. But more importantly, it was in the first few minutes of the ducklings being in the coop. Will it always be like that? Are they too young to be in the coop? Did I put them in wrong? Please help!

 

[citymeetscountry]

How old are the ducklings?
Did you just throw them in the coop or allow some exposure (like through a fence to get them acclimated)
Am I understanding you are putting the ducklings in with chickens (rooster) as well?
If the mother passed away I would brood the ducklings out of the coop before integrating

 

[MarshyRooster]

Thank you for responding, this seems urgent. The ducklings are around two months old, I think. We did give them exposure before putting them in the coop, through a fence. We have two roosters, but one of the roosters likes ducks and the other one tends to ignore them. And their mother passed away while they were in the incubator- what do you mean by brooding them out of the coop?

 

[citymeetscountry]

Thank you for responding, this seems urgent. The ducklings are around two months old, I think. We did give them exposure before putting them in the coop, through a fence. We have two roosters, but one of the roosters likes ducks and the other one tends to ignore them. And their mother passed away while they were in the incubator- what do you mean by brooding them out of the coop?

If they’re 2 months old they’re big enough to be out so ignore that (I was thinking they were baby babies, only a week or so)

Hope someone can give you good advice that’s experienced it before. I would think you may need to keep them separate still. Maybe a 2nd coop. So they can see but not be integrated together yet.

My chickens don’t care for the ducks (but the ducks are only 3 weeks old so they see them in passing)

 

[MarshyRooster]

I'll try keeping them separate a little more. We don't have a second coop, so that might be a problem, but I could probably try more through-the-mesh interaction. If you have any other ideas, please tell me. Thank you!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Split the coop and place a barrier up so the ducklings can be with the flock but not be picked on. It can take time for an established flock to accept newbies and they can be injured by being attacked by older ducks and chickens too. I use Lattice that we had left over from some project here and made a fence so my mama duck and her ducklings had a safe space in the coop with the flock. It's amazing what you might can construct with things you have laying around.

 

[MarshyRooster]

Thank you! I'll do that. When should I let them into the coop once I'm done?

 

[LT71689]

I'd probably try introducing them in the run/free ranging so they can choose to interact or not without invading anyone else's space. Putting them directly into the coop is essentially dropping strangers into *someone else's house*

In the run or yard where there's more space, if one of the adults WANTS to come over and interact that's cool, but they're not being forced to. I'd try that (supervised) for a while and see how it goes, and keep them divided in the coop at night for safety.

How long have you been doing fenced off interaction? Do they stay that way 24/7 or are you removing the ducklings and then bringing them back and then removing and then bringing them back?

 

[MarshyRooster]

The ducklings are doing better today. (Not falling into holes in the ground of the coop, I mean. That happened yesterday and it was a terrifying experience for them AND me, because they absolutely panicked.) But I still do want to take precautions. So... they do stay in the run most of the time, although they also hide in the duck house. I think it's a good idea to keep them divided in the duck house. Although, I just realized it might be squished in there with mesh too. It's not half as big as the chicken coop. And the fenced off interaction... we haven't been doing it for long. We've been bringing them as close as we can to the coop-and-run-and-duck-house but we haven't actually gone into the pastures where it is before yesterday. Mostly they just heard each other. But before we put them in, they had a long romp directly next to the run, and it was the time of day when all the birds (including the ducks) come out, so that worked well.

 

[MarshyRooster]

We decided they're not quite waterproof yet, after my dad realized the ducklings were wet but the adults weren't. They'll get one or two more weeks in the brooder. Will this help the other birds be more prepared for when they come back to the coop?