introducing ducklings

[daisysducks]

i just got 2 pekin ducklings about like a week old and i have 4 pekins about a month and a half old. what’s the best way to introduce the babies to the older ones? i also have guineas.. will they affect them?

 

[Ratchnick]

I'm not sure you can introduce them safely until they are closer in size.

 

[daisysducks]

I'm not sure you can introduce them safely until they are closer in size.

okay thank youuu

 

[Isaac 0]

Yeah, you'll have to wait till there closer in size, and slowly start integrating them together.

Have any pictures of the little ones?

 

[daisysducks]

Yeah, you'll have to wait till there closer in size, and slowly start integrating them together.

Have any pictures of the little ones?

here’s the babies, they’re a lot smaller than the other s when i first got them and they look a little different... i’m wondering if they’re a different breed? the store had them all assorted.

 

[daisysducks]

i’m scared that the bigger ducks will never like them and it won’t work out... is what are the changes of that?

 

[Pollo Blanco]

i’m scared that the bigger ducks will never like them and it won’t work out... is what are the changes of that?

Based on my limited three weeks of duck-keeping, very slight.

I had to integrate new Runners with week-and-a-half old Runners and it went swimmingly.

I know that sounds like a minor difference, but the size disparity was double and both groups required different feeders and waterers.

Ducks are really social animals!

 

[daisysducks]

my ducklings are about 3 weeks old and the big guys are about 2 months now. i let the babies walk around the yard with the big ducks but i keep an eye on them. they don’t really interact too much for the most part, the little ones go their way the big ones go their own way. one of the bigger ducks follows the ducklings around sometimes but in a not aggressive way, she just kind of walks behind them at a slow pace. but some of the bigger ones go towards the babies in a threatening way if they get close. but sometimes they also all lay in the shade together not super close but pretty close and the big ones don’t seem to have a problem.

how can i introduce them better and when?
i want them to be ready for when i move them outside full time.

 

[OHSpartan]

I learned a trick for flock integration that has worked with chickens multiple times and worked with ducks this spring. Built an enclosure where the new/old flocks can see each other, but the babies are protected. We build a small, poultry-netted framed box in the coop with its own feed/water. After about a week or so, open the box. We've found that the flock inside the box hangs together and the flock out side the box hangs together, but they don't fight.

 

[daisysducks]

I learned a trick for flock integration that has worked with chickens multiple times and worked with ducks this spring. Built an enclosure where the new/old flocks can see each other, but the babies are protected. We build a small, poultry-netted framed box in the coop with its own feed/water. After about a week or so, open the box. We've found that the flock inside the box hangs together and the flock out side the box hangs together, but they don't fight.

thank you for the tip but our coop isn’t really set up in a way that that is possible