New Babies!

[JoyAnna]

When I let my ducks out this morning, I discovered at least six babies under my Ancona, Beatrice. She was off next briefly last afternoon, and I counted approximately 20 eggs then. At least she had her nest inside the duck house. I had no idea when to expect hatching, but knew it must be soon. So there is a huge hustle for me to get her penned off from the other ducks. Now I have to get down tothe feed store to get some chick feed and get get water set up for the littles when they get out of the nest. I took some pictures, but haven't figured out how to get them posted. This is the first time I have had "home grown" ducklings. I surely cannot keep all of them, so have to decide when to sell/rehome, how many, which ones, etc. More later. Lots to do for them. I'm so excited and happy.

 

[Miss Lydia]

When I let my ducks out this morning, I discovered at least six babies under my Ancona, Beatrice. She was off next briefly last afternoon, and I counted approximately 20 eggs then. At least she had her nest inside the duck house. I had no idea when to expect hatching, but knew it must be soon. So there is a huge hustle for me to get her penned off from the other ducks. Now I have to get down tothe feed store to get some chick feed and get get water set up for the littles when they get out of the nest. I took some pictures, but haven't figured out how to get them posted. This is the first time I have had "home grown" ducklings. I surely cannot keep all of them, so have to decide when to sell/rehome, how many, which ones, etc. More later. Lots to do for them. I'm so excited and happy.

Look forward to seeing all the littles. Stay calm mom!!

 

[JoyAnna]

Thanks, Miss Lydia. I feel quite exhausted tonight. My advise to anyone with a sitting duck, prepare ahead of time! I had no idea when to expect the littles, so had to rearrange the duck house, get a temporary fence up, find the waterer, even had to go down to the feed store to get some crumbles for them. I have had some major construction of my new mini barn, downing trees, installing electricity and water out to the ducks, and so everything is in turmoil and hard to find what I needed for them. I have a brand new iPad and got some nice pictures, but have no idea how to upload them here. Mamma Beatrice is such a dear. She lets me get in near them, even let me pick them up. She just coos away, continues to tuck the remaining eggs in under herself. This evening, the littles were out doing a bit of exploring and I was able to count 8 or 9 and I think there were a total of around 20 eggs. I'll figure out the pictures tomorrow.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Congratulations, sounds like Mama Beatrice has everything under control. And you can finally enjoy watching them. I agree having everything ready ahead of time sure helps.

Looking forward to those pics.

 

[JoyAnna]

This was my first view on Friday morning


Well, Beatrice is proving to be a wonderful Mamma, but didn't quite have everything under control.
I forgot that the Littles can get through that fence. They were having a ball.

 

[Miss Lydia]

This was my first view on Friday morning


Well, Beatrice is proving to be a wonderful Mamma, but didn't quite have everything under control.
I forgot that the Littles can get through that fence. They were having a ball.

I can see she has her hands full with those tiny ones.. They are adorable and so is mom.. Congrats.

 

[JoyAnna]

Now comes the problem—I cannot possibly keep all of them

There are not many Anconas in this area, and I paid $10 ea for day-olds last year. I have to let Beatrice keep some, but how soon should I try to sell some? They are all looking strong, healthy, active, eating and drinking. It will be so hard to let them go.

We ended up with 12 hatched, and this morning she shoved the remaining eggs out. Finished!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Now comes the problem—I cannot possibly keep all of them

There are not many Anconas in this area, and I paid $10 ea for day-olds last year. I have to let Beatrice keep some, but how soon should I try to sell some? They are all looking strong, healthy, active, eating and drinking. It will be so hard to let them go.

We ended up with 12 hatched, and this morning she shoved the remaining eggs out. Finished!

Any time actually but make up a care sheet. We have one on here I can give the the link to if you want. When I sold ducklings I waited till they were 2 weeks old but hey hatcheries sell just hatched and send them through the mail. So really up to you, having 12 I doubt mama will be too upset if some go missing. I only had 2 to sell and that was extremely hard for me. How many will you keep?