Old fashioned Broody Thread for Ducks

[stonykill]

Maybe a sad update. Topper's 7 little ducklings have been great all day, eating & drinking and following Mom around. Then just a few minutes ago, DH told me that one of the little ones was all by itself. I went to check and sure enough it was laying off from the others, at first I thought it was dead. It is alive but very weak - I brought it in and got it to sip a little vitamin water. Only after I brought it in did I notice it has a tiny little crest like Topper. I'm just keeping it warm and hoping for the best.

hoping for the best!

 

[TheRookie]

Hello all,
Just thought I might revive this thread a little since I have a late hatch coming. I have a broody Scovy sitting on some mixed (non-Scovy) duck eggs and she is due October 20th. I am clearing out her sisters eggs as she adds them, You all say your girls are so aggressive while on the nest... I musta got lucky then cause she never tries to snap at me, I can even go in and lift her off the eggs for a quick second if I am in a hurry and need that other egg out before I go to work. Anyway, I have some questions to ask you experienced broody duck owners.

First off, I dont have anywhere to put my two drakes.. However, I had a broody chicken in the pen next door and the chicks were forever finding ways to slip through the cracks, even after we put up hardware cloth in between (they are all in chainlink dog kennel, the ducks have a 20 x 10 area). The drakes didnt pay the babies any attention, the chicks would climb on my big Scovy drakes back while he sunbathed and he would just ignore them. I am going to

and hope that he is the same way with the ducklings when they hatch. I will probably make a makeshift fence for the first few days to keep him apart from the babies and their momma. This is Apollo.

This is his favorite girl, Cocoa. She has been sitting for a while but today is Day 5 of her official 28 day hatch.

What is the best way to water ducklings? I am going to take away both pools when they get close to hatching time and give them standard waters. That should keep them satisfied for a day or two til I can figure out how to regulate their water usage and keep babies out of the adult (deep) water. All my ducks (and laying chickens) free range in my yard from around 10 am to 7 pm.
Thanks, Lenore

 

[elsfieldchickens]

my voilet and her baby

 

[Amiga]

my voilet and her baby

 

[Amiga]

What a lovely duck!

I hope others will come in and give you some good advice. We just added a drake to my three year old all girls flock a little over a month ago, and we plan no hatching in the immediate future, but I like to learn more for the time that we decide to give it a go.

 

[jdywntr]

I have a muscovy hen that is setting on 22 eggs. They are due to hatch as early as tomorrow. I'm a bit concerned about the weather so today I set up a cardboard brooder off of her nest which is in an upside down extra large bucket. I had good luck brooding day old meat chicks last year in a similar set up.

I'm not sure how many eggs will hatch, I haven't candled or anything but I'll be happy with whatever I get. This is her first time going broody and she's been doing an awesome job so far.

 

[donnavee]

Don't have any Muscovey ducks, but calls, blue swedish & magpie. All of the girls hatched little ones this year which turned out to be 4 different hatches not counting the 2 that a chicken hatched (we call them the Chucks since they still hang out with the chickens more than the ducks). Anyway, I was very concerned about the drakes around the little ones but none of them seemed to have any interest in them. If a baby got too close, they just gave them the little head down shoo away gesture and that was it. I did keep each hatch away from everyone for about a week - where the others could see but not touch - after that the Mamas were always seemed ready to introduce their new additions to the others. The other cute thing was that all the ducks would come stand around the pen and look at Mama and her hatchlings - reminded me of relatives viewing a newborn at the hospital.

 

[stonykill]

my voilet and her baby

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have a muscovy hen that is setting on 22 eggs. They are due to hatch as early as tomorrow. I'm a bit concerned about the weather so today I set up a cardboard brooder off of her nest which is in an upside down extra large bucket. I had good luck brooding day old meat chicks last year in a similar set up.

I'm not sure how many eggs will hatch, I haven't candled or anything but I'll be happy with whatever I get. This is her first time going broody and she's been doing an awesome job so far.

Any news?

 

[farmlife]

My ducks keep laying on the floor and I picked up the eggs and put them in a wooden milk crate with straw in the corner of the coop. I did this because I thought the eggs would get trampled. However, there are 7 eggs in the crate now and no broody duck. Was the crate a bad idea? Where do ducks usually nest?