New muscovy mother

Jnokomis

In the Brooder
Jul 31, 2017
11
5
19
Hi! My chocolate hen is a new mom to 4 of the cutest babies. This is her first time and I'm not sure she has a. clue what to do. She has brought them out of the coop and while they do follow her around they are also quite independent as well. For example they will ignore it if she flies off first thing and they want to eat. She'll go up on the roof and pip at them like "come on up here" or she go off and seem like she goes "crap the kids!" and flies back.

My worry is that it's Feb and we had a cold snap, temp in 30s and snow. I would expect her to let them warm up under her as needed but mostly I see them huddled together and her nearby. They're now almost 2 weeks old, not sure how they've made it this long in the cold. They seem ok, run around after mom, eat, etc. I keep wanting to take them into the house and turn on my electric hen but anytime I get near them they run like heck to mom like she's told them I'm some big monster. What do I do? Should I trust her or step in?
 
It's surprising how tough broody hatched ducklings are compared to brooder hatched.
Well they have to be to survive.
I usually make mine wait till at least end of April before they can sit but even then we can still have a cold snap I have even taken mom and ducklings inside into a cool room to wait out some pretty cold temps. I usually keep my moms and ducklings in their own temp fenced area so I can close them up if weather gets too nasty. If they have made it to 2 weeks and still look good. Then hopefully they will be okay. If temps really drop and it begins to rain or snow I'd really consider keeping them up till it passes. Chilling is one of the things we have to worry about and mama ducks just don't offer the heat the way chickens do.

Congratulation on the ducklings pics when you can
 
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I am shocked how tough they are! I was able to pick up one today, it's twice as big as it was just a couple of days ago (I swear they shoot up when you turn your head for a second) and strong! It didn't want to be held by me and was doing a darn good job trying to get out of my hand. I was helping the little thing to bed as the ramp got knocked down and it got scared. I can't wait to see what they look like with feathers!
 

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