I really fell in love with duck eggs, love them more than chicken's. So I plan on getting 1-2 more ducks this year. TSC gets them in un-sexed, so I will get at least 3 in the hopes that one or two will be girls. The Question is: I read were adding new female ducks to an already established flock is easy. I only have 1 male and 1 female Khaki Campbell right now. How do you go about introducing the new ones without the little ones getting hurt or worse? Do you have to wait till they are big enough (like chickens which is around the same size as the adults) to stand on their own or can they go in earlier? I have a duck pin that is roughly 7' wide by 53' long. I've got a temporary box for them and I'm going to build a more permanent one as soon as possible. I can also extend the width of the duck pen if necessary, I'm sure the chickens won't mind too much giving up some space, especially since there are only 9 of them and they have a run twice as big. Any and all advice would greatly be appreciated
YES! Wait until they're big enough, or graft them onto a broody ala chickens. It's funny but harmful watching adult ducks and new babies. I remember 8 Appleyards (young adults) and 3 little week old scovies, and the Appleyards would peck them to pieces, and there poor little scovies would just follow them around and be confused as to why these big teenage thugs were hurting them! Needless to say we intervened, and never tried that again. Adults have been well known to kill babies that aren't theirs, and are without a protective mother duck. Like I said, if your duck hen goes broody, graft them onto her.
Generally I put my ducklings outside in a brooder for a week or so where the adults can see them- then they go into a separate pen on the grass for another week before I finally put the ducklings in with the adults. I hatch year round so my adults are well used to the routine of new ducks coming into the flock and arent bothered by it much. It can take the young ones a while to become fully integrated and not sit of on their own on one side of the yard. Depending on the season they usually go out at around 6 weeks old. Younger in Summer - older in winter, but by that stage they have most of their feathers. Watching the drakes is especially necessary since you dont want him trying to mate with a young female before she is big enough to cope with it. Good luck when time arrives to pick up your ducklings.
