How do I keep my muscovy hen from leaving with her babies?

[bossynbella]

We have had our muscovys for almost two years, last year we added one new hen to the flock, a full grown black and white pied girl, she has never been as friendly as the others, but we had gotten her to catch corn and bread in the air with the other three, she went broody and hatched out seven ducklings on may 10th (my birthday!) We keep fresh water available in three hog pans, fresh every day, and are feeding meat bird starter free choice to her and the babies, but she keeps trying to take them over the hill and down to the creek. We have lost many ducks there to various predators but have never had our Muscovy go there before. It is also not a very "clean" creek I think from the surrounding farm land it just always looks gross and I don't like our ducks in there, especially babies! Today was rainy and cold and my DH had to herd her back with 7 ducklings trying to keep up in the wet cold grass. One of the ducklings is much smaller then the others. We are going to try penning them up tomorrow, but I worry she will just fly out, and if the ducklings are anything like the guinea keets they will find a way through the chicken wire over the hog panels on the pen. We have clipped her wing in the past but she still was able to get enough lift to get over the 6' tall fence. Also she is now very very aggressive, I guess trying to keep us from hurting her babies (just never experienced this with our call ducks or chickens) She will chase us and grab our pant legs or skin if we have shorts on. We hadn't penned her yet because we didn't want to stress her any more then necessary, but I don't want to loose these babies either. We are thinking of bringing the "runt" inside and putting it under a lamp, but they are never happy by themselves.

Just not sure what is "best" for my duckies. Hopeful for any advice from more experienced Muscovy keepers (this is our first hatch of Muscovy ducklings)

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Hopefully the ducklings wont be as good at slipping through the chicken wire. You could try putting some netting over the fenced area if the 6 ft is not high enough.