New Muscovy Mom is VERY rough with her new babies.. 😢

[AmyA248]

Hi friends,

Our new Muscovy mom is VERY rough with her ducklings.
She was fine with the first one until the other 4 hatched all in one day 5 days after the first duckling hatched.
I witnessed her hitting her 3 hour old baby so hard I was really worried and moved 2 babies to a brooder box.
Why would she want to hurt it?
I’m very concerned and scared!
Is this normal? Does she want to kill it?
What do I do???
Should I put all the babies in the brooder box?
I’m afraid what might happen overnight.
This is her first clutch, maybe she’s confused, but I’d be devastated is something were to happen!
Please advise.

Kindly,
Amy

 

[sourland]

This is the problem with staggered hatches. She is imprinted on the first duckling and regards the newly hatched as 'intruders/competition'. She may or may not accept them. I'd monitor very closely.

 

[AmyA248]

This is the problem with staggered hatches. She is imprinted on the first duckling and regards the newly hatched as 'intruders/competition'. She may or may not accept them. I'd monitor very closely.

 

[AmyA248]

I took out all but the first baby and put them in the brooder with a headlamp.
Will they be ok without their mother?
I dipped their beaks in the water and they can all drink and they are already picking at the crushed pellets.
I’m just sad that they can’t be with their mother.
They must feel rejected..
Poor little babies, they are so sweet!
I’m so worried about them!!!

 

[BelovedBirds]

I took out all but the first baby and put them in the brooder with a headlamp.
Will they be ok without their mother?
I dipped their beaks in the water and they can all drink and they are already picking at the crushed pellets.
I’m just sad that they can’t be with their mother.
They must feel rejected..
Poor little babies, they are so sweet!
I’m so worried about them!!!

As long as they're not injured, they'll be fine.
This is part of life, and part of owning poultry. Even if the hatch wasn't staggered, which shouldn't have been allowed to happen due to problems like this, rejection at hatch is always a possibility.
It's important to remember that mum isn't being "mean" or "cruel", she's just following her instincts. If she's only imprinted on the first baby, then just leave that one.

 

[AmyA248]

As long as they're not injured, they'll be fine.
This is part of life, and part of owning poultry. Even if the hatch wasn't staggered, which shouldn't have been allowed to happen due to problems like this, rejection at hatch is always a possibility.
It's important to remember that mum isn't being "mean" or "cruel", she's just following her instincts. If she's only imprinted on the first baby, then just leave that one.

Thank you so much!
I’m not sure what you meant by “It shouldn’t have been allowed to happen even if they were not staggered.”
What does that mean?
Should we have not allowed her to hatch her babies?
She’s a Muscovy and did a fantastic job, especially since Muscovy ducks have such a long incubation period.
We have 8 ducklings now and they are all in a brooder box with toys and a nice cozy blanket.
She is still sitting on her last egg, I can’t imagine the time difference between the first one and the last 7!! The first one acts like the mother of the younger ones, and I think they believe she’s the mother! Lol!
Look at the size difference!
I’m going to candle the last egg today, as it should have hatched by now.
If it died, would mom still be sitting or would she know it passed away and leave the nest??

 

[BelovedBirds]

Thank you so much!
I’m not sure what you meant by “It shouldn’t have been allowed to happen even if they were not staggered.”
What does that mean?
Should we have not allowed her to hatch her babies?

That's not what I said, I said "Even if the hatch wasn't staggered, which shouldn't have been allowed to happen due to problems like this, rejection is always a possibility"
That is, no she shouldn't have been allowed to have a staggered hatch-
It's much better to mark a clutch of eggs before she starts sitting on them, and then once she is sitting, to remove any new eggs. That way the eggs start developing at the same time. Staggered hatches are very risky, if the age gap is off enough she could've abandoned tje eggs after a day or two to start looking after the first hatchers, or she could have stuck with the remaining eggs and her first hatchers could've been neglected.

She’s a Muscovy and did a fantastic job, especially since Muscovy ducks have such a long incubation period.

Which is natural for the breed, it sounds like she did a good job yes, but the circumstances weren't exactly safe for the babies.

We have 8 ducklings now and they are all in a brooder box with toys and a nice cozy blanket.
She is still sitting on her last egg, I can’t imagine the time difference between the first one and the last 7!! The first one acts like the mother of the younger ones, and I think they believe she’s the mother! Lol!
Look at the size difference!
I’m going to candle the last egg today, as it should have hatched by now.
If it died, would mom still be sitting or would she know it passed away and leave the nest??

Usually I believe they do know when an egg is dead/rotten and discard it from the nest- however some may not recognise it, especially a first time broody.