My Khaki Campbell went broody: 7 babies out before things went bad. :(

[Sweetfolly]

Juniper's been doing a great job since last time I posted! Heck, she's been such a model broody, my other Khaki Campbell, Holly, has started a nest of her own in the other corner of the pen!

Anyways, the eggs are hatching right now as I type!

When I fed this morning, there was lots of peeping, one egg zipping, and a few pips that I could see. I betcha anything the one that was zipping this morning will be out by feeding time tonight...pictures to come!

 

[Wifezilla]

 

[Sweetfolly]

Here it is - Juniper's first baby!

And there are more to come, judging from the amount of peeping I hear coming from the nest!

I was a little worried about the other two female ducks in the pen (my HUGE Jumbo Pekin was a little too interested in the nest....), but Juniper is being super-protective and she's sitting in there "talking" quietly to her baby.

 

[LizGled628]

Oh my Lord. Cutest little storyline EVER! You are going to have some beautiful babies. Congrats!!

 

[cwhit590]

Aw...love it when new babies are around. Congrats!

 

[Sweetfolly]

Two babies out now!

And, this weird, bloody egg.

I didn't chip any of the shell away, it was like this when I fed ducks and Juniper got off the nest this morning. I was sure the duckling was dead, but I picked it up and it peeped at me!

It's stuck in there pretty good though, so I wrapped it up in a warm, wet cloth and put it in the incubator. Once that blood dries up and turns brown, I'll see if I can help the little bugger out:

I also took the first two ducklings away from Juniper and put them in a brooder this morning. Like I said, there are about 3 eggs that were just a few days behind and have just pipped into the air cell, and I don't want Juniper abandoning the nest to teach the first-hatched ducklings how to eat and everything before the slow-pokes are done.

 

[Sweetfolly]

We're at 5 babies now!

I took the first three away and put them in the brooder since the hatch is a little staggered. That bloody egg produced a healthy duckling after a little membrane-soaking (baby was shrink-wrapped pretty good and I know what I'm doing when I help them out, so I don't want to hear any flack about it!

) - so there are 3 in the brooder, and 2 newly-hatched babies under Juniper (I only managed to get this picture because I was trying to temp Juniper with some food and water - it's 95 degrees out, and she hasn't left the nest since yesterday afternoon):

 

[cwhit590]

Well, looks like they're all Hookbill/Campbell so far.....it's always exciting to see what comes out w/ mixed breeds.
Are there more trying to hatch? Are you going to give them all back to her or raise some in the brooder?

 

[Sweetfolly]

I'm probably not going to give the ones in the brooder back to her....I'm not planning on keeping the little buggers, and another BYC member who lives nearby probably going to come get some (or all) of them pretty soon.

Based on what I saw when I last candled a few days ago, there should be 4 more eggs due in the next few days yet. After that, the rest of the eggs in the nest are fresher ones that she stole (I actually opened the pen up one morning, saw a new egg in the middle of the pen, left for a few minutes, and when I got back it was gone, and there was an extra egg under that crazy duck - so she was rolling them across the pen into her nest!

), so I'll take those away and finish them off in the incubator.

And yes - they all have a Hookbill look to them!

I'm still sort of hoping that a Pekin/Hookbill hatches out, but I'm not even sure if my 6-year-old Pekin is laying...there's one egg in the nest that looks more oblong (like hers always tend to do), but last time I candled, that one didn't look promising, I think it was a late quitter.

 

[Sweetfolly]

Well, Juniper was a good mom while it lasted. She has 7 babies - 4 of which she hatched herself, and 3 that I finished off in the incubator.

I thought that bloody egg the other day was strange - the duckling wasn't positioned in a way that it could have chipped off all the shell that was missing. It was okay though - I took it away, and now the duckling is healthy and running around in the brooder.

Juniper had 2 babies hatched in the last 3 days that I let her keep to raise. This morning, I was feeding all the ducks, and I noticed right away that the ducklings were hiding in the corner of the pen away from Juniper. They were both perfectly normal yesterday, I saw them running around and eating and hiding out under Juniper's wings, but one has a pretty bad limp this morning (no injury I can see to the leg or foot, looks like a pulled muscle).

Juniper stood up and there was fresh blood all over her feet and the eggs in the nest. There were ducklings still due to hatch under her, but she pecked the eggs open. The weird thing is, she's still sitting on the pecked eggs (and turning them - hence the blood all over her feet). Maybe she was trying to help them out, maybe she got bored. I'll have to try to get her off the nest before bugs find it.

So, there's a happy ending - 7 healthy ducklings, despite one bum leg. But it also ended badly.

Here are the 7 ducklings in the (messy!) brooder: