I went to check on my broody Khaki's eggs tonight (I thought they were still a good week away from hatching) and two have internally pipped. I almost stroked I was so excited!
So, I'm going to force myself to leave them alone.
I do have a question though. She has been sitting on 19 eggs (was 24 but I had to throw a few bad ones out). Probably 15 are originally hers and the other five below to my other hen who could care less about sitting on eggs. She lays one randomly in the pen, and Precious goes out and gets it every morning and nudges it back to the nest. I just love her! So, she has several that are very close to hatching and she has a few that are probably only a week old.
What happens when the first one hatches? Where is it going to go? When Precious goes out for her brief periods to swim and walk around, will it follow her, and then go back to the pen when she goes?
I'm sort of in a panic now. I thought I had another week to make an addition to my duck pen for little ones, but evidently I don't. Do most of you take the ducklings out of the nest as soon as they hatch? I almost hate taking her babies. She has been such a good momma. Makes me feel horrible. But I don't want them to get lost (we let ours free range during the day) or stomped by the other ducks.
All advice welcome!!! I have NO IDEA what I'm doing!
So, I'm going to force myself to leave them alone.
I do have a question though. She has been sitting on 19 eggs (was 24 but I had to throw a few bad ones out). Probably 15 are originally hers and the other five below to my other hen who could care less about sitting on eggs. She lays one randomly in the pen, and Precious goes out and gets it every morning and nudges it back to the nest. I just love her! So, she has several that are very close to hatching and she has a few that are probably only a week old.
What happens when the first one hatches? Where is it going to go? When Precious goes out for her brief periods to swim and walk around, will it follow her, and then go back to the pen when she goes?
I'm sort of in a panic now. I thought I had another week to make an addition to my duck pen for little ones, but evidently I don't. Do most of you take the ducklings out of the nest as soon as they hatch? I almost hate taking her babies. She has been such a good momma. Makes me feel horrible. But I don't want them to get lost (we let ours free range during the day) or stomped by the other ducks.
All advice welcome!!! I have NO IDEA what I'm doing!