Old Fashion Broody Duck Thread 2015 Edition

[Blondiega1]

How's it going out there?

Delilah is now full time committed to sitting.
She's been at it about 2 weeks now.
Maybe we will have a hatch around late May.

 

[AmandaVirginia]

4 greys and 2 yellows! 3 of Perdy's 9 eggs weren't fertile, so she hatched every one of her little babies! They couldn't be more beautiful and she is a WONDERFUL momma!

 

[Doctor Pammie]

Hi, everyone! I have a broody Muscovy named Aguila. This will be her first attempt at hatching and our first go around with the Muscovies. I can't tell how many eggs she's sitting on because she's in such a tight space and she yips at us whenever we check on her. It can't be many because we've been collecting eggs from that spot. We think she started sitting in earnest two or three days ago. Last night and tonight we snuck two more Muscovy eggs under her (total of 4). I hope that was OK to do. My husband wanted to try to put two more tomorrow, but I think we should stop so we don't drag out her potential hatching.

A few questions: she has made her nest in a box meant for chicken hens to lay in. It is VERY tight for her. Do you think she'll do OK there? Does a mama duck sit on or cover up her ducklings like a mama chicken hen after they've hatched? If so, I don't see how she'll be able to manage. Also, her nest is on wood--is that OK? And finally our chicken nesting box that she's in is elevated--we have a little ramp that the chickens used to get from their run up into the coop. Do you think this will pose a problem for ducklings when they're trying to come down?

I hope I'm not being too much of a pest, but since this is our first time with the Muscovies and we REALLY want more ducks, we want to make sure we're doing things right. We have separate food and water down there for her so that when she does come off the nest, she doesn't have to go far to take care of her needs.

Thanks for any help and good luck to all the ducky parents out there!
Pam

 

[Blondiega1]

Delilah has quite the ambitious nest this year.
Last time I was able to get a count there were 15 but I'm sure more were laid after that.
She's pushed out 3 so far that were not viable.

This picture DOES NOT do justice to the size of her nest.
I can count 10 just in this picture alone so I'm guessing there's still well over a dozen in there.

I got this pic when she came off to eat and bath. It's the first time she's been off the nest in 2 days so I figured she had to be hungry.

I'm not predicting a hatch till late week of next week at the very earliest.
More likely the week after.
But then, Delilah is not really consulting with me on these matters, so I suppose we will just have to wait and see.

 

[CMRDucks]

Oh how adorable! She did really good first time out

 

[CMRDucks]

I have a few questions on community brooding. I've been reading everything I can find relating to broody ducks, especially getting pointed back here to BYC and I can't find feedback that helps me make decisions for my crew.

I have 4 Anconas, 1 drake and 3 ducks, one year old May 2nd. They have been raised together since hatch from an awesome local breeder. 2 ducks were molting when I received a request from one of my duck egg families for duckings - they are looking for layers and meat birds so it did not matter if they were siblings. Gracie, my best duck that wasn't molting and represents all of the best points in the breed within my flock, I let her keep her eggs to see if she would sit. She did with dedication as of May 7 so I let her be with whatever eggs she had. She's in a dog house, the other girls were molting not laying and I just gave her a shot to see.

I set up a separate area for the other two ducks to lay once they finished molt thinking Gracie would chase them out of the duck house - now her nest box. The opposite happened and duck #2 joined her in sitting and #3 duck and drake slept in the duck house after grazing all day. When it is warm drake camps on the ramp from the dog house, when it gets cold, he's in the dog house with the girls.

All this time I just bent down to the basic dog house opening and uttered my standard greetings while feeding, watering and leaving the pen door open to the run. I didn't open the side panel to the dog house until day 21. It's their first attempt and I didn't want to interrupt their instincts. What I didn't expect was to find another nest. It appears now that Gracie and Duck #2 were co-sitting 16 eggs in the back of the dog house and Duck #3 started laying in the front until she had 7 eggs and Gracie and Duck #2 couldn't take it anymore and that clutch got nested and they rotate sitting. Duck #3 helps but only Gracie and Duck #2 are broody. Drake is now curled outside the entrance standing guard.

Now my questions have context

Based on their behavior making this a communal hatch, and the dedication of my drake to day 23 (today) - he's never known another drake, just his girls and me.
- Would it be more stressful to the brooding ducks to separate drake and duck #3 in anticipation of a potential hatch in the oldest nest or would you let it play through and see, responding quickly if necessary?
- If it goes well with the oldest nest hatching in a communal way, do you think there is any chance they will keep that communal nesting pattern to hatch the second nest?

If there is something I can do to help this situation play out as favorably as possible, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[CMRDucks]

I have a few questions on community brooding. I've been reading everything I can find relating to broody ducks, especially getting pointed back here to BYC and I can't find feedback that helps me make decisions for my crew.

I have 4 Anconas, 1 drake and 3 ducks, one year old May 2nd. They have been raised together since hatch from an awesome local breeder. 2 ducks were molting when I received a request from one of my duck egg families for duckings - they are looking for layers and meat birds so it did not matter if they were siblings. Gracie, my best duck that wasn't molting and represents all of the best points in the breed within my flock, I let her keep her eggs to see if she would sit. She did with dedication as of May 7 so I let her be with whatever eggs she had. She's in a dog house, the other girls were molting not laying and I just gave her a shot to see.

I set up a separate area for the other two ducks to lay once they finished molt thinking Gracie would chase them out of the duck house - now her nest box. The opposite happened and duck #2 joined her in sitting and #3 duck and drake slept in the duck house after grazing all day. When it is warm drake camps on the ramp from the dog house, when it gets cold, he's in the dog house with the girls.

All this time I just bent down to the basic dog house opening and uttered my standard greetings while feeding, watering and leaving the pen door open to the run. I didn't open the side panel to the dog house until day 21. It's their first attempt and I didn't want to interrupt their instincts. What I didn't expect was to find another nest. It appears now that Gracie and Duck #2 were co-sitting 16 eggs in the back of the dog house and Duck #3 started laying in the front until she had 7 eggs and Gracie and Duck #2 couldn't take it anymore and that clutch got nested and they rotate sitting. Duck #3 helps but only Gracie and Duck #2 are broody. Drake is now curled outside the entrance standing guard.

Now my questions have context

Based on their behavior making this a communal hatch, and the dedication of my drake to day 23 (today) - he's never known another drake, just his girls and me.
- Would it be more stressful to the brooding ducks to separate drake and duck #3 in anticipation of a potential hatch in the oldest nest or would you let it play through and see, responding quickly if necessary?
- If it goes well with the oldest nest hatching in a communal way, do you think there is any chance they will keep that communal nesting pattern to hatch the second nest?

If there is something I can do to help this situation play out as favorably as possible, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks for any advice!

Nothing, not a thought or a hint to stay proactive and anticipate potential issues? Somebody at least say 'good luck' with BYC enthusiasm. They are all brooding and the lack of duck sounds is ghostly quiet.

 

[kes4]

Okay, I'll jump in. I just had two ducks share a nest and third one very close to them. In the end they hatched only 3 but that is not the result of the co-hatching. Big baby is 3 weeks and the two tinys are one week. They co-parent and its so much fun to watch. I would let them do it again, only not these specific three ducks.

I can't make the decision for you but it sounds like it's working well so far. Just be ready to jump in when necessary. Good luck.

Nothing, not a thought or a hint to stay proactive and anticipate potential issues? Somebody at least say 'good luck' with BYC enthusiasm. They are all brooding and the lack of duck sounds is ghostly quiet.

 

[CMRDucks]

Okay, I'll jump in. I just had two ducks share a nest and third one very close to them. In the end they hatched only 3 but that is not the result of the co-hatching. Big baby is 3 weeks and the two tinys are one week. They co-parent and its so much fun to watch. I would let them do it again, only not these specific three ducks.

I can't make the decision for you but it sounds like it's working well so far. Just be ready to jump in when necessary. Good luck.

Thanks for the jump! So in your experience, the co-parenting and the close staggered hatch did not contribute to the low hatch rate or baby duckling mortality in this case. Good to know it can be successful. I do have a brooder set up if necessary and I dug out some extra chicken wire to make a partition in the pen if necessary. We went from 80 degrees to 45 degrees and they aren't coming out of the house so I can't get a peek - boy did I get yelled at when I tried! I did snag two dark eggs out the day before when it was warm and the eggs weren't buried - the eggs in the nest were crazy warm so it seems like their efforts are being productive. I'm surprised they didn't push those two out of the nest - but I'm glad they didn't. Those are the only two I candled and they were filled with dark sloshy liquid yuck. I buried them very carefully.

Thanks again, I miss my ducks and I hope they stay good with the ducklings. I'd love it if they successfully hatch some from each clutch. I'm also glad I didn't separate them since the weather has gotten so rainy and chilly.

3 weeks and 1 week, with co-parents, they have to be such a blast to watch! You should post pictures I think about that as a possibility but it seems so far off. I'm to the point I just want my ducks back - all four are silent and hiding, silent ducks are very unnerving.

 

[kes4]

I also have 6 from one duck (Dark Wader) 2 weeks old and so far 5 from today from Nanni. She still sits on some eggs. The reason for the low hatch rate of the trio is mainly they are the worst mothers ever. I don't know how often I had to save the duckies. After one hatched they pretty much decided that's enough. However they did stay on the eggs until they had one each. After that they got really careless.

I don't know if I have enough posts to post pictures. Plus I don't know yet how. I'll check it out. They seem to grow faster than the ones I had in the brooder last year.

So yes, I think with the right ducks co-parenting can work. I believe that only the fact that they have three mothers each even made survival for these 3 possible.