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

[eenie114]

aaaw...

They're sooooooooooooooo cute!!

 

[10ducks]

That's a wonderful hatch... especially for a Khaki! I'm going to tell mine "other people's KC hens brood their babies... do you want to end up on the table?!"

 

[Birdcrazy]

Wow they are adorable - and atleast you managed to get some babies out of a khaki incubation (awesome!!) despite the sad ending to the rest

Hope it all goes well for you

 

[Sweetfolly]

All the ducklings are healthy and growing like weeds. The duckling with the injured leg is still limping pretty badly, but he gets around to eat and drink, and that's all that matters.

I sorted through what was left of the nest last night - found the one mangled baby that she obviously ripped out of the egg and chewed on

, a few broken eggs that were either infertile or early quitters, and 3 eggs that still have live babies in them, due in 4 - 7 days (they're at different stages). So, I cleaned the blood and yolk off them as best I could and threw them in the 'bator. We'll see if a few more babies still come of all this.

But yes - Khaki's DO go broody! Juniper has made a NEW nest, and is sitting on the three eggs that were laid by the girls in the pen today. I'm not going to let her hatch anymore (can't bear walking in on the gory scene of the other morning again), but she's persistent. I guess she's one of those broodys who likes to sit, but doesn't actually want any babies to raise.

 

[Sandiemouse]

In all of the excitement building a new Call duck pen and then getting my new Call ducks this past weekend, I've been neglecting the other ducks a little bit lately.

So, while I was checking on all the birds for one last time last night, I noticed one of my Khaki Campbell ducks, Juniper, sitting oddly in a corner of her pen. I shooed her away (she was very offended), and I found this:



A nest! I candled all the eggs this morning, and 10 of the 14 are alive and developing - they're probably about 8 or 9 days along (except two of them that must have been added to the nest later - they're closer to 4 or 5 days along, and I'll probably end up moving those two to the incubator). She's only been sitting on them at night; I let them out in the morning and then they don't have access to that pen until I feed them and lock them back up for the night - it must be warm enough here during the day that they're pulling through while she's out playing in puddles all day long. Now that I know about the nest, I have her locked inside today, and she's been sitting on it - it's cooled off a bit outside today, and now that she's started this, she had darned well better hatch some ducklings!

She's not one of those extremely committed, viscous broodies...I think it's more like she figures that, if she's locked up in the pen, she might as well sit on those eggs- it's not like she has anything better to do!

If I open the door to let her out, she abandons the nest and makes no attempt to go back inside from 9 a.m. to about 8 p.m. ... I experimented about three times this morning, and when I feed them and lock them back up, and she goes right back to the nest and plants her butt down.

Anyways, I'm going to keep her cooped up with the eggs and see what happens. I really don't need any more ducklings this year, but it's sort of neat - I never expected one of my Khaki's to go broody. If she manages to hatch any, they'll be Hookbill/Campbell or Hookbill/Jumbo Pekin crosses. I figure I'll candle the eggs this time next week and let you know how she's doing!

Here are my crazy Khaki's - Juniper is the one on the left:

Just wondering if your khaki hatched any ducklings?