just hatched ducks

[sewbrooks78]

Good morning! I've been reading this site for 2 years and just joined! I have 5 chickens and 4 ducks since last spring, 3 male and one female duck. My female duck started laying on a nest at Christmas, because its so warm I think she thought it was spring. Sunday morning after the tornado's passed, I live in South Georgia; btw the news is down playing the destruction... I finally felt it was safe to start tending to the animals and I found 13 baby ducks, and today found one more, so 14!

They all look healthy! My question is do I leave the babies in with the adult males and female or do I bring them in to my inside cage, that their parents were raised in?! I want them to survive, and I plan on keeping one male and the female out of my original group and trading/selling the other two males and babies for other varieties of females. The pen is big, but we really only want 4 ducks at a time in it, according to my husband... so! separate or keep together?! Thank you!

 

[TLWR]

You can keep them with the mom, but I'd separate the 3 adult males from the ducklings. Then just watch mom - if she's not doing a good job, then bring them in, but she'll likely be fine.

 

[sewbrooks78]

Thank you for your reply! Separating the males is the one option i currently can not do. I do not have another pen for them. My only real option is to bring the babies in, but I didnt want to upset the female duck. or I leave them out there. I put a heat lamp out there, but the babies were laying under that and not there mom, so I took it back out.