I have no idea whether I should be concerned or not. I searched but didn't find an answer, sooo now I'm throwing it out there for all of you smart people to answer.
I have a duck that hatched out ducklings(7). She is enclosed in a pen within her and her buddies original pen. I put it up when it got close to time for her eggs to hatch. Then the others wouldn't bother her. She is a Buff duck. I didn't put a top on the outside part because most ducks don't fly and the idea was to just give her and the babies a safe place away from the others but still within sight of them.
She keeps flying over the pen. It's about 3 1/2 ft. tall. It seems like she cannot figure out how to get back. Maybe she doesn't want to be with them. If I go in the big pen, she's usually right outside the small one talking to them. It's crazy having to chase or herd her back into the pen every day. Today I had to do it twice. I even went out there this morning and made her pen shorter so she would be able to just jump back over. It's now about 18 inches tall. That's enough so the babies can't get out and she should be able to easily get back over.
I don't know if she wants to bring them out or what but the larger pen isn't secure enough for these tiny babies. Do any of you have any idea about what is up with this duck? One other thing when she was on the nest she was easily scared and would run off of it but she would go back to it within a few minutes. My other broody duck will not budge from her nest at all. If you even look at her, she starts hissing and bristling all up. She acts like she is a snake. It's actually pretty funny to see. Maybe it's just the difference in their personalities.
I have two ducklings that we had ordered in our greenhouse and I'm wondering if I should take the babies away and put them in the greenhouse. If she's in the pen and you look over, she runs off and leaves them.
I have a duck that hatched out ducklings(7). She is enclosed in a pen within her and her buddies original pen. I put it up when it got close to time for her eggs to hatch. Then the others wouldn't bother her. She is a Buff duck. I didn't put a top on the outside part because most ducks don't fly and the idea was to just give her and the babies a safe place away from the others but still within sight of them.
She keeps flying over the pen. It's about 3 1/2 ft. tall. It seems like she cannot figure out how to get back. Maybe she doesn't want to be with them. If I go in the big pen, she's usually right outside the small one talking to them. It's crazy having to chase or herd her back into the pen every day. Today I had to do it twice. I even went out there this morning and made her pen shorter so she would be able to just jump back over. It's now about 18 inches tall. That's enough so the babies can't get out and she should be able to easily get back over.
I don't know if she wants to bring them out or what but the larger pen isn't secure enough for these tiny babies. Do any of you have any idea about what is up with this duck? One other thing when she was on the nest she was easily scared and would run off of it but she would go back to it within a few minutes. My other broody duck will not budge from her nest at all. If you even look at her, she starts hissing and bristling all up. She acts like she is a snake. It's actually pretty funny to see. Maybe it's just the difference in their personalities.
I have two ducklings that we had ordered in our greenhouse and I'm wondering if I should take the babies away and put them in the greenhouse. If she's in the pen and you look over, she runs off and leaves them.