Khaki Campbell's hatching eggs

[Nebraskagirl]

What do you mean by broken? Have you looked at the eggs to see if they are fertilized?

My biggest concern is that she is not taking care of them properly, because we know at least two died. They were awful smelling and she still was sitting on them.
She was the nicest duck I have ever seen until her sitting on this nest, now she is nasty. She is my daughter's showmanship duck too. My daughter is only working with her once a week, because she is mean and VERY loud. She bit her leader the other day and he had a welt on the back of his hand. This used to be the duck that toddlers would carry around. When she was a duckling she was very mean. Then when she was around six months she started to be nice and was nice ever since. Hopefully, she will shake out of it quickly after they hatch. She will be going to fair within a couple of weeks from hatching.

She is being protective of her clutch. So yes, she is being a GREAT mother! Sometimes all eggs do not make it to hatch. It is fairly common. I would not be handling her AT ALL while she is incubating. It causes undo stress to her and whomever is handling her. I would think the leader would know this and not try to handle her. If you can, use another duck for fair purposes.

 

[furbabymum]

What do you mean by broken? Have you looked at the eggs to see if they are fertilized?

My biggest concern is that she is not taking care of them properly, because we know at least two died. They were awful smelling and she still was sitting on them.
She was the nicest duck I have ever seen until her sitting on this nest, now she is nasty. She is my daughter's showmanship duck too. My daughter is only working with her once a week, because she is mean and VERY loud. She bit her leader the other day and he had a welt on the back of his hand. This used to be the duck that toddlers would carry around. When she was a duckling she was very mean. Then when she was around six months she started to be nice and was nice ever since. Hopefully, she will shake out of it quickly after they hatch. She will be going to fair within a couple of weeks from hatching.

When I say break them of being broody I mean make them stop. There is a pretty good method of breaking a chicken of it (wire cage hung up in the air for air circulation). I was able to break the chicken but the ducks..... I asked in another thread and they told me to take the eggs away and they should stop setting. I think I'm going to do that. I know my duck is caring for her eggs though. Every time I look into the kennel (we put 1/2 a dog kennel over her so she had privacy as the idiot made her nest next to the barn door) and her nests is always in a different spot.

 

[Learningstill]

She is being protective of her clutch. So yes, she is being a GREAT mother! Sometimes all eggs do not make it to hatch. It is fairly common. I would not be handling her AT ALL while she is incubating. It causes undo stress to her and whomever is handling her. I would think the leader would know this and not try to handle her. If you can, use another duck for fair purposes.

We would but we had to tell them in our paper work what breed and gender, well she is the only khaki campbell duck we have. We are stuck using her. I agree she is stressed, but she is not at home when she is worked with which helps a little. We used to handle her all the time, so once a week for her is not being handled. I am relieved that she is being a great mommy. I wish we did not have to get her off her nest at all, but we cannot help it. Do you know how she will handle us removing the ducklings after they are born? We want them to be friendly and not scared. Thanks

 

[Learningstill]

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When I say break them of being broody I mean make them stop. There is a pretty good method of breaking a chicken of it (wire cage hung up in the air for air circulation). I was able to break the chicken but the ducks..... I asked in another thread and they told me to take the eggs away and they should stop setting. I think I'm going to do that. I know my duck is caring for her eggs though. Every time I look into the kennel (we put 1/2 a dog kennel over her so she had privacy as the idiot made her nest next to the barn door) and her nests is always in a different spot.

I see

 

[Nebraskagirl]

We would but we had to tell them in our paper work what breed and gender, well she is the only khaki campbell duck we have. We are stuck using her. I agree she is stressed, but she is not at home when she is worked with which helps a little. We used to handle her all the time, so once a week for her is not being handled. I am relieved that she is being a great mommy. I wish we did not have to get her off her nest at all, but we cannot help it. Do you know how she will handle us removing the ducklings after they are born? We want them to be friendly and not scared. Thanks

Why would you remove her from the nest when they are hatched? For show? If it is temporary, I guess that is ok. I wouldn't separate them for good. What do you mean by "friendly?" I hatched two duckling from our incubator and they were handled frequently (after they ate and drank and had plenty of rest mind you) and once they hit five weeks, they became independent; in other words they behaved more like ducks. Ducks are prey animals. They have that innate reaction of fleeing and being "jumpy" so to speak. Don't expect your ducklings to run and jump on your lap when they get older. They are not the same as cats and dogs. Treats can help as can spending time with them. Letting the babies be raised by their mother is best idea in my opinion. Just enjoy them and let them be ducks

 

[Learningstill]

Yes she will not be here for a week. Besides that we have aggressive males who will not tolerate the babies hanging around.

What I meant by friendly, by no means was not de-ducking them our ducks are inside with us until they are fully feathered. They are handled a great deal by children. They are show ducks and we have them for that reason only. The babies we are not keeping will be sold for fair ducks too. Our ducks are very ducky, but we want them to not fly away or fly when trying to catch them. I know khakis are not the greatest at flying, but some will be mallard mixes. Our ducks are not free range with a pond. They have a swimming area in a 6 ft high pen.

Basically, when they are indoors they are in ducky training camp. We practice picking them up and setting them down, we let them loose and catch them again. We get them to the point of not fleeing in a panic, but stepping away. With this said, they will panic if our dog or someone not working with them enters the training area, and this is what we promote. We are not trying to de-duck them. Also, These are not the first time we have had ducklings, but is the first time we hatched them ourselves. I thank you for your concern, we too are concerned regarding our duck babies. We do not want the adult males to kill our babies.

Will taking her babies harm her in anyway? I do not know if this will cause problems or not. I was wondering if anyone had to take the babies away before?

Thank you for your response. Have a blessed day. Oh yeah, by the way Nebraska is my favorite state. I went there when I was in the eighth grade with a friend, we loved the gorgeous huge hills. I cannot remember the town we went to, but I remember the town roads were all brick and I cannot remember the population, but it was like 15! We lived in a small town and could not believe how small that was. We also went to another town which had a mall, and it was dead barely any people. If I could, I would probably live in Nebraska.

 

[Nebraskagirl]

I wouldn't think removing the young would harm the mother. She will "get over it" I am sure. I wasn't sure if you have had ducks or not before. A lot of people expect a "pet" from handling a duck at a young age, which usually doesn't happen. We had to get rid of our WH drake because he was bent on killing the two youngsters. He went back to farm where I bought him. We have a trio and that is way we want to keep it. I don't show ducks, but it sounds like you got it down with how to handle and condition them. Raising them from babies will be an adventure! Take pictures because they grow fast! I am sure the mother will fine after a while. Perhaps someone on here can give you more advice. Try posting that question on the Old fashioned broody thread as I am sure they have experienced that before. Good luck and keep us all posted.

ps Yes Nebraska is nice. It is even better when we get some RAIN!!!!!!!!!

 

[Learningstill]

UPDATE:
Our khaki duck has hatched 8 ducklings so far. She still has some eggs in her nest. We have taken the ducklings each day as they hatched and she did not seem to mind. She is very protective of the eggs though. That is why we cannot tell how many eggs she has to go. I hope the rest hatch today, so we can start getting her nice again.

Okay getting to the exciting stuff....
The babies appear to be mallard/khaki mixes with the exception of one. We for sure have one pure khaki! The mixes are cute. They all look different. Some are mallard markings with a dark coat over, sort of like a muddy mallard. Others are mallard markings with a mustard color frosted over their brown down. Some have solid brown beaks while others have pink and brown. Their feet are either solid brown like the khaki or off yellow with brown throughout like the mallard babies.


Does anyone else have a mallard khaki mix? If so, what did it look like as it matured? We are wondering if they will favor one breed or look mixed.

So cute and so fun!

 

[Nebraskagirl]

Congrats on a successful hatch thus far! I don't have experience with mallard mixes but I know a lot of folks here do so I am sure they will chime in. Post pictures of the babies if you can. I would love to see them.

 

[Learningstill]

Our khaki baby

The group our khaki hatched with their Granny laying in the background keeping an eye on things

One of the babies that look like muddy mallards, although the picture did not give the look justice

One of the babies that looks like it went to the salon and asked for mustard frosted down

The two week old babies we hatched on our own without an incubator!


They are all so sweet!


Also, the momma was not sitting on the nest for most the day and we started to wonder if she abandoned the rest. We went and got the rest of the eggs and candled, two were bad and the last was good. I rinsed the egg so it did not smell like the two bad and put it back on the nest. My son then put the momma back on and so far she stayed. Keep our fingers crossed!