Introducing New Ducklings

[kcardella]

So, I have 6 ducks that are about 12 weeks old. I ordered all females from Metzer, but low and behold, one turns out to be a drake! He's very cute, and we are keeping him.

I called Metzer and asked whether they guarantee sexing, and they do, but instead of taking a refund for the drake, I opted (of course) for a replacement duckling. Keep in mind, they cannot ship one duckling, so I also opt to get a few more to keep her company (good excuse). Anyone see a pattern here?

My question is, will the older ducks accept the babies if I let them hang out together during the day? We are having 90+ days here in Florida, and I was hoping I could put the little ones in with them in their day pen for a couple of hours after they are a couple of weeks old. I could never do this with chickens or guineas, but I don't know if ducks behave the same.

Has anyone had experience with this?

 

[froggie71]

It takes time. We let our ducklings free range with the adults for a bit during the day. They did not hang out together, the ducklings would even go after the adults. Finally when they were about 6 weeks old I think (too long inside!) We put them in the adult duck house. The adults kept them outside in the run for a couple of days. There may have been a fight or two. Now they get along just fine. We just added 3 3-4weeks into house. This time we used some chicken wire to section them off. Hopefully soon we can take that down. Oh did I add we have 1 6 day old duckling in the brooder that hatched by itself. Hmmm.... where to put this one?

 

[kcardella]

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It sounds like it's about the same as chickens then, maybe without as many fights!

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LOL - sounds like you have a new pet? Thanks for the info!