dfurlong
Hatching
We have 8 laying hens (all about a year old), 7 six week old chicks, and 2 six week old Indian Runner Ducks (who look full grown already). Because of how fast the ducks grew we decided to move them out to the main coop with the hens and set up a pond system for them as well. It seemed fine for the first day but then the second day I came out & my two ducks ran to me full of blood - they had large patches of feathers missing & bleeding and big feathers pulled & bleeding from their wings. I immediately brought then inside to our bathtub to clean them up & calm them down. After I integrated them back with the chicks until they were fully healed.
We have been "testing" the ducks with various hens to find out who the culprit(s) were, and sure enough it's our super broody hen (a beautiful Blue Cochin). She also goes into attack mode when we try to bring the chicks around (whereas the other hens do the normal pecking/chasing/establishing dominance thing with them). She will not relent when the ducks are there and she even stalks them. Realizing she's the problem, we are considering giving her away, but we aren't sure who would want such a broody hen who isn't laying. We adore our ducks so giving them up is not an option.
Any ideas/suggestions much appreciated!
We have been "testing" the ducks with various hens to find out who the culprit(s) were, and sure enough it's our super broody hen (a beautiful Blue Cochin). She also goes into attack mode when we try to bring the chicks around (whereas the other hens do the normal pecking/chasing/establishing dominance thing with them). She will not relent when the ducks are there and she even stalks them. Realizing she's the problem, we are considering giving her away, but we aren't sure who would want such a broody hen who isn't laying. We adore our ducks so giving them up is not an option.
Any ideas/suggestions much appreciated!
