Introducing babies to one month old duck

[sasc]

Evening I posted few days ago about losing a duck and my other duck being Lonley. It's about 5 weeks old. First time having a duck. Not sure if it's a boy or a girl yet.
Our 5 WK duck is noisy the quack one min is like a sneak then kinda deep. Loves to nibble on everything. But was sad being alone a mirror helped until we found more ducks. Now we have 6 3 day old ducks. Tried putting the babies in to see what 5wk duck would do supervised of course. And 5 week started bumping nipping at 3 day old ducks. Is this normal?
Put them in tub together and 5wk old was trying to herd them and peck at em. Least I think herding but wasn't as nibbling like before. Currently have them all in 2 different see through containers but next to each other so 5 WK duck can't hurt 3 day old ducks. How can I make sure 5 WK won't hurt the babies and how can I tell if it is and how to tell what sex 5 week old duck is? Tia

 

[Devw]

Well, I would advise against letting the two ages of ducks intermingle until the 3 day old ducks are almost fully feathered out (or of similar size). Ducks (at least in my experience) establish pecking order based on age, but the 5 week old can very, very easily take it too far (or even step on a baby on accident.) Usually the mama hens will teach the older babies to be more tolerant, but since I'm assuming yours doesn't have one, I recommend waiting a while.

Depending on the breed of duck, sexing is different. In mallard based lines (all breeds except Muscovy) the males will eventually get "sex feathers", where two feathers on the tail will curl upwards. The hens and drakes usually have different colors based on variety. Drakes will usually be bigger than the hens, but not always. Sometimes they quack differently, but I'm not well versed in this side of the duck kingdom.

In Muscovys (which I'm doubting you have, but will offer my tidbit anyways), the drakes are much, much larger than the hens. Drakes also have a dramatic mask, and start developing faster than the hens.

I recommend trying to find a duck of a similar age to your 5 week old, but it should be fine for a little while as your other three ducks mature (as long as it has a place to run around safely.)

 

[chickens really]

Keep introducing them supervised of course for play times while the little ones are growing...They will soon be pals......As long as the older one is only noodling the little ones and not biting they will be fine........As you know Ducklings grow fast......I had to do the same thing with my Duckling Bouncer....It all worked out..

Best wishes..


Cheers!