Muscovy Hen on a clutch of 10 -First Timers

[NCquackshack]

Greetings everyone from beautiful western NC. Thank you for the expert advice and warm welcome. Lots of questions here, first hatch to occur. It is 32 degrees and my hen is outside in her loft sitting on eggs. Lots of fresh straw, and I packed straw around and under coop. Also the drake goes in with her. The roof is reinforced with straw with tarps on top. I also threw a thick quilt on top for good measure tonight. I take the quilt off in the morning. She has a opening as well, when it is sunny I open up an additional door.

Each day I check on her and can feel that the eggs are warm. I give her meal worms and she comes down once in awhile to feed. Okay my question is : when the ducklings come, do I gather them and bring them inside and keep with warmer? Or do they stay in coop with mom until they get a little bigger? They are going to another hobby farm but I want to grow them out until they are healthy. I have never been expecting ducklings...

 

[Ratchnick]

I would guess you could do either, if you let mom raise them you can watch to make sure they stay warm but I suspect mom will do that.

 

[Miss Lydia]

As long as mom is in a safe place the ducklings should be okay with her unless she has many ducklings then she may not have room for all of them to be tucked in. How many eggs? I'd section off her place from the drake though, drakes can be unpredictable and some have been known to kill ducklings. Fix it so he can see mama and her ducklings but can't get to them.

 

[NCquackshack]

As long as mom is in a safe place the ducklings should be okay with her unless she has many ducklings then she may not have room for all of them to be tucked in. How many eggs? I'd section off her place from the drake though, drakes can be unpredictable and some have been known to kill ducklings. Fix it so he can see mama and her ducklings but can't get to them.

Thank you ! I will watch close, he is such a humble guy that it would be hard to imagine but I will carefully separate. I will let you all know when I get a hatch!

 

[Miss Lydia]

We are in Western NC too! I've had Muscovy ducklings hatch in spring with a cold snap hit and since they were in the coop in a dog kennel [plastic one] Dh and I brought it inside and put it in a room where a lot of heat doesn't go that way mama was able to stay with her ducklings till all eggs hatched {6} and it was still cool in the room but warm under mama, so they were able to go back out once the weather stabilized. Keep them from getting wet is the main thing.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

How exciting for you! I can’t wait for that to happen on our farm! Please take pictures along the way because I’m soo curious to watch ducks be born...I’ve seen so many chicks, but not actual ducks hatching! Yeah!

 

[Miss Lydia]

My Muscovy drake is terrified of mama Muscovy and ducklings but I still keep mama and ducklings separated from everyone for a few weeks just to make sure they are completely able to get away from anyone who wants to pick on them and everyone has had time to get use to newbies.