Hatching baby ducks- do I need to separate from the rest of the ducks?

[YlwBrchHobbyFrm]

I was surprised to discover one of my Saxony ducks suddenly wanting to sit 4 weeks ago. I'd been hoping for someone to go broody, but it seemed a lost cause until this welcomed surprise. And not daring to move her, I've since allowed her to sit on her clutch of 15 eggs in the duck house which also houses 6 other adult ducks, both drakes and hens. This group is very tight- I already tried separating them but mama got freaked out and got off her nest as she anxiously called for everyone else. Fearing she wouldn't want to sit- I allowed her friends back in and all has been fine since. Now we're looking at baby ducks hatching any day and am wondering if I need to try and separate them again? Will the other ducks try to kill the babies? Or should I just let them be? I imagine the hatching will take a few days and I'm worried about what the others might do to them.

Any advice or past experiences would be very appreciated! Thank-you

 

[HEChicken]

I don't have any experience with Saxonys because I raise Muscovies. I currently have a mother muscovy raising 15 ducklings right in the coop with the chickens, turkeys and remaining ducks. They're all getting along great. Ducks seem to have a better social order than chickens, with older ducks being very tolerant of ducklings, unlike chickens who are likely to peck at an errant chick. However I have never seen a chicken or turkey peck at a duckling. In the first few days the mother duck was very quick to chase off any bird that appeared to look too closely at her brood, but she has relaxed over time. They were 3 weeks old yesterday and the ducklings are becoming very independent, spending large chunks of time together but away from their mother.

 

[kmalichky]

We have 7 adult ducks, 4 females, just domestic hybrids. We've only successfully raised 2 of our own hatchlings in the past 3 years due to the males killing the ducklings within the first week. We were able to keep the 2 alive only because we kept them seperate until big enough to fend for themselves.

 

[Going Quackers]

What i would do is after they hatch fence her off for a couple days and then let her go, observe the flocks behaviour.. yes some drakes do kill ducklings, heck even some other females can. Flock dynamics is what makes this work or doesn't you cannot change the personality of the birds in the flock.

I let mine loose with the birds, other than my buffs the rest of the birds leave the kids alone.. most mamas are fierce and don't take kindly to overly noisy flock members with the babies. GL with the hatch!