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

[Sweetfolly]

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:

 

[AdamD77]

Aww, hope she hatches out some lovely babies so we can see some cute duckling pictures

 

[10ducks]

That's great!

I thought one of my Khaki hens was going to brood some eggs earlier this summer, but she pooped out. She stayed in the coop for a couple of days, so we partitioned off a corner for her and gave her food and water close by the nest. She sat for 5 days, and on the 6th, she started to yammer to be let out, very loud and indignant and acting like it was our idea for her to be sitting in there all day while the other ducks were out having fun. I was hoping she'd return to the nest after a swim, but she showed no further interest.

I hope yours goes the distance!

 

[Sweetfolly]

Okay, candled the eggs this morning and I let poor Juniper outside with the others to have a bath - she was looking pretty skanky and miserable. She IS still sitting on those eggs!

But, another duck keeps adding to the nest. It was up to 16 eggs this morning when I candled. Of those, 11 are moving around in there, alive and strong, and about 2 weeks along in development - halfway there!

(I must have missed one when I candled last week.)

Another two eggs were only about a week along - I left them under her, I will eventually move them to the incubator, but I might as well save the electricity and let her sit on them for now. There were two eggs that were either infertile or less than three days into incubation, so I tossed them. And then there was another rotten egg that I tossed.

So, she's doing awesome so far; 11 little duckies dancing around in those eggs! I'm estimating a hatch date sometime during the week of August 8-14th. I'll keep an eye on her and move the eggs into the 'bator if I have to...but it really looks like she's going to pull this off!

 

[Wifezilla]

Awesome!

 

[Sweetfolly]

I left the gate open this morning to see if she'd voluntarily go back to the nest or if I'd have to pen her back up with it again, and she went back on her own - the door's still open, but she's inside! Hallelujah!

 

[cwhit590]

Congrats!

Hopefully she stays on them till the end. Nice looking Campbells btw...where did you get them from?

My friends have Pekins....I've hatched out 2 little clutches this year from under a banty chicken hen! The Pekins could care less about brooding...lol...

 

[Sweetfolly]

Quote:
They were a local kid's cast off 4-H project. 8 Campbell drakes, 2 Campbell ducks, and 1 Jumbo Pekin duck all just running loose on the farm. I took the three girls to get them away from those rampaging drakes!

I think they were originally ordered from McMurray Hatchery. The Pekin was older when I got them, she's around 6 years old now, and the Campbells are around 4 (they should be 5 early next spring). They were my first three ducks, and I didn't really pay attention to where they said they had ordered them from! But I'm 99% sure it was McMurray.

And thanks - I think they're just gorgeous! Now that they're getting older and not laying as many eggs, I've been sort of looking for a Khaki drake so I can hatch a few of their daughters to add to the flock...maybe if I actually do it next spring, they'll hatch the ducklings themselves!

 

[Birdcrazy]

oh wow grats!! That'd be awesome if she hatched them

keep us updated

 

[Sweetfolly]

Well, Juniper's still on her nest - I let her out in the morning, and she goes back to the nest after about an hour of bathing and mucking around in the dirt, sits on her nest until late afternoon, when she takes another short break, before going in for the night. She's doing awesome, I'm so impressed!

And the eggs are getting CLOSE! I can't see much in there anymore...we've got to be somewhere in Week 3 now. It looks like there are still 11 live ducklings growing in there. I'm worried though - it's been crazy-humid here, and the air cells aren't anywhere near as large as I'd like them to be at this point.

So, if any of them do manage to hatch (I'm moving the Hookbill drake out of that pen today - he's been really sweet and respectful of Juniper on her nest...but you know drakes), I think she could have ducklings as soon as the end of this week! Or next week at the latest. It's hard to tell, not knowing exactly when she started sitting, and the fact that they started developing when she wasn't setting full-time...I think they sprung ahead in development really quickly that week when I locked her in the pen and made her sit.

Anyways, hopefully I'll have some pictures of ducklings to share soon!

I'm keeping an eye on her...I'm not sure if she'll know what to do if fuzzy little things emerge from the eggs underneath her...