Help- new ducklings

[vanessasb]

Hi all- I had 3 ducks…. 2 female+1 male. Today we discovered we now have ducklings. We let the ducks out of their coop to free range this morning and only the male duck came out. Later today, the two females came out with 3 little ducklings. They are adorable. I have never encountered this as we got our other ducks from tractor supply and raised them in a brooder with a light, etc…,,
Do I leave these ducklings with their mom? Or separate them and take care of them myself? I’m not even sure which of my females is the mom, but after watching them all evening it seems like they are both mothering the ducklings. We live in Georgia. Highs of 80 this week and lows at night around 60. We have a nice/safe coop, but typically let them free range most of the day- is this a good idea??
I have no idea what I’m doing but don’t want to interfere too much.

Thanks so much!!

 

[citymeetscountry]

No real experience with this as we incubated and brooded our ducklings from our other ducks. I would say that you probably need to remove the drake from being around the ducklings

 

[ruthhope]

I agree that you need to separate the drake. The females, "mothers", will keep the ducklings warm enough. So i would not separate the ducklings from tge mothers. Please post photos!!

 

[Yardmom]

Some drakes are ok around ducklings, but many are not. You will need to decide if you want to separate just in case. I sometimes allow my ducklings to free range with the mothers , but sometimes that doesn't turn out well as ducklings make a good snack for many predators. Most ducks make good mothers, so you can leave the ducklings with them. I feed my mother ducks and babies flock raiser since it is a food they can both eat.

 

[vanessasb]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the advice-
We actually found a 4th baby- hatched about 24 hours after the others! We have decided to leave the babies with the two female ducks. They seem like pretty good moms from observing I guess if that changes we will take them inside and raise them! They stay up in their coop/run most of the day with the female ducks, but we do let them free range for an hour or two in the afternoon all together while we are sitting outside near them. The drake is very protective, but seems really good around them….. so far so good.
Attaching photos