I have a peculiar dilemma:
My duck laid an egg in the turkey nest, and mother turkey hatched out a duckling at the same time as her turkey poults. She adopted, and they are doing impressively well together. It has been four weeks now, with almost no problems. They are free range during the day, and in a partial wire/partial solid wall outdoor shelter at night (same one they were incubated in) with no other birds besides the family. Today I encountered a problem, however, because the turkey siblings can now fly, but the duckling cannot. The mother now wants to roost with the babies, and the duckling was left on the ground, screaming. I removed the roost to force the family to continue nesting on the ground, but I figure this is not a viable long term solution.
I have never had a broody turkey hen, but have raised my turkeys with a heat lamp previously. While I have a little turkey experience, I have lots of duck experience, both with incubators/heat lamps and broody mothers. I know that ducks have strong sibling attachments, and it can be dangerous to leave them alone, especially at a young age. The duckling is very attached to her turkey siblings. I have no other ducklings to put her with, and the older ducks will be too aggressive with her if I put them in the coop together-she is starting to quack.
As a bonus, I have two little turkeys being raised in a box with a heat lamp (recovered as late eggs after Ma turkey left the nest) about two days younger than the duck and her outdoor siblings. I have thought about putting her in with the them, or moving them outside in a run with her at night.
Any ideas?
My duck laid an egg in the turkey nest, and mother turkey hatched out a duckling at the same time as her turkey poults. She adopted, and they are doing impressively well together. It has been four weeks now, with almost no problems. They are free range during the day, and in a partial wire/partial solid wall outdoor shelter at night (same one they were incubated in) with no other birds besides the family. Today I encountered a problem, however, because the turkey siblings can now fly, but the duckling cannot. The mother now wants to roost with the babies, and the duckling was left on the ground, screaming. I removed the roost to force the family to continue nesting on the ground, but I figure this is not a viable long term solution.
I have never had a broody turkey hen, but have raised my turkeys with a heat lamp previously. While I have a little turkey experience, I have lots of duck experience, both with incubators/heat lamps and broody mothers. I know that ducks have strong sibling attachments, and it can be dangerous to leave them alone, especially at a young age. The duckling is very attached to her turkey siblings. I have no other ducklings to put her with, and the older ducks will be too aggressive with her if I put them in the coop together-she is starting to quack.
As a bonus, I have two little turkeys being raised in a box with a heat lamp (recovered as late eggs after Ma turkey left the nest) about two days younger than the duck and her outdoor siblings. I have thought about putting her in with the them, or moving them outside in a run with her at night.
Any ideas?