Help protecting MANY ducklings!

[docrox12]

I rescued 25 Muscovies and Rouens last year. This spring there are many nests. 2 nests hatched 4 and 8. Those have all disappeared one by one. The moms were not great and didn’t watch them closely. Those were Rouen moms. Now 3 Muscovies have hatched batches of 4, 11, and 14. My dilemma is.... do I wrangle them all into some kind of enclosure (which is not built) or let them raise them knowing they won’t all survive. They do go into the barn at night with 3 goats, 2 sheep, and a goose but it is not closed up. I do have a chicken tractor I could use and move it to new grass every couple of days. Right now I have a hen with her chicks in it but could move her. I will post pictures in a few minutes.

 

[docrox12]

 

[Miss Lydia]

Your taking big chances they will all soon disappear. If you have a way to protect them I'd use it very hard for me to let one of my Muscovy females brood then just let them take their chances. Put some doors on your barn or build them a house so they will all be protected at night especially.

Beautiful mamas and ducklings.

 

[docrox12]

I just spent an hour wrangling up one batch that have 12 and two from another duck. I got the mom that goes with the 12, but the mom that goes with the two got away! They are slippery devils! I put the one mom and the 14 babies in my chicken tractor pictured above. The other mom is hanging around. IF I can catch her, should I put her in with the other mom and her babies or let the one mom raise them all? Should I put all of the other babies in that too? With their moms if possible or with this one mom????
When we first got the ducks I built a duck house. 8 x 8 with ventilation of hardware cloth around the top and doors on both sides for easy clean out. Well....they poop a lot! I was having to clean it out every other day due to 25 ducks in there. I don't want to use that for the ducklings as they wont have any grass or bugs.
Thanks for any help.

 

[docrox12]

Here is where some of them are now.

 

[Lil Drake40]

That is a lot of ducks to House I actually have 2 houses for my ducks and 1 for my geese. Not sure how well more than 1 female will do in the tractor. You can try it. You want to be sure 1 mama will be able to keep all those ducklings warm. Yes they are very messy but they will be safe closed up. Do you still have that house? MYbe you should reconsider using it.

 

[ANightPerson]

If you need more space, you could always make a home depot run and make a quick little duck pen from stakes and chicken wire. As well as something to put over the top so that they don't get out. Locking them up at night is especially important.

 

[docrox12]

There is still another big batch running loose with their mom and another with 4. There are 5 sitting on eggs right now.
Obviously, next year I will know to pick up their eggs as they lay them. Never having had ducks before I didn't know they would lay so many!
There is still loads of room in the chicken tractor. Since I will move it every other day, I'm not worried about any mess.
So not sure what to do with all of the ones that will soon hatch.
The duck house I built would be less desirable, as it won't have an open grass bottom.
When I researched this in the beginning all I found was information about people who had 3 or 4 in their yard. This is a farm with lots of animals around. I couldn't find any info about keeping many ducks on a farm. The man who had them before he died, just had them all free range in his yard.

 

[Lil Drake40]

Well it’s taking a chance your going to lose many of them but it’s always up to the OP what they want to do. I have to take up eggs daily or I’d be overrun

 

[docrox12]

I need some guidance regarding whether to move the next batch WITH their mom to the tractor. I feel like it would be fine since now different moms and batches hang right together without issue. It won't work with just one mom as the newest little ones will need warmth.