Old fashioned Broody Thread for Ducks

[Margot50]

I candled Daphne's clutch again on Wednesday night and they are all doing well. I'm worried about the spread in their age tho. I can't remember exactly but about 3 are so big you can only see the veins and and movement at the very edges of the air sac. I figure that they must be about a week away maybe??, Then another 3 or so are about 1/2 as big, and 1 or 2 are smaller yet.
Babs, hen 2, is not settling as I thought she would, probably cuz we have an egg thief in the run at night, so I can't sneak the younger ones under her.
Daphne is sticking like glue to he eggs but what will she do when some hatch! I put new straw in her litter pan and she winds it around her nest cavity. At this point you can hardly see her
and then there is the egg thief to worry about.

My ducks are bantams. Maybe that is why they are doing so well.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I candled Daphne's clutch again on Wednesday night and they are all doing well. I'm worried about the spread in their age tho. I can't remember exactly but about 3 are so big you can only see the veins and and movement at the very edges of the air sac. I figure that they must be about a week away maybe??, Then another 3 or so are about 1/2 as big, and 1 or 2 are smaller yet.
Babs, hen 2, is not settling as I thought she would, probably cuz we have an egg thief in the run at night, so I can't sneak the younger ones under her.
Daphne is sticking like glue to he eggs but what will she do when some hatch! I put new straw in her litter pan and she winds it around her nest cavity. At this point you can hardly see her
and then there is the egg thief to worry about.

My ducks are bantams. Maybe that is why they are doing so well.

When you say egg thief do you mean something other than a duck? I don't know how long a duck will stay on the nest if the hatch takes longer than 2-3 days because she'll want to get up and take care of the ducklings that have already hatched. My Muscovy was still sitting 2 days after her last egg hatched so i went ahead and candled and the rest weren't any good so i took them away the next day she got up.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well we have a new broody, her name is Faith and she will be 1 yr old next month. She is only sitting on 4 eggs but seems to be very determined to brood. I can't say NO to my girls.. any body interested in some ducklings?

 

[stonykill]

Well we have a new broody, her name is Faith and she will be 1 yr old next month. She is only sitting on 4 eggs but seems to be very determined to brood. I can't say NO to my girls.. any body interested in some ducklings?

congrats! It is going to be a long month!

 

[Miss Lydia]

congrats! It is going to be a long month!

yes it is.

 

[Ilovemyduckies]

Just thought I post pics of my broodies.

This is Ruebix. She is a cayuga and sitting on 10 eggs. Her eggs are due to hatch to 24.

I have a question about this one. She has been laying on her eggs from about 6 am to 5-7 pm. So she hasn't been laying on them at night. Do you think she will go broody full time or just keep laying on them only during the day. I was wondering if it would work if I put half of the eggs in my incubator during the night and put them back in the morning? If I did this would she still take care of the ducklings?

 

[mandelyn]

Being a Pekin, it's hard to tell if she will or won't go broody full time. Both my girls did that part time thing for about 2 weeks before really committing. She might, she might not.

My update... I've been hands off, because the duck Duchess really doesn't like me fooling with her nest. The chicken, she let's me do what I like with minimal growling, she's a sweet bird and trusts me.

So the duck, had 2 babies hatch early, way early, before I had the wall built to keep the boys out. I found the babies on the floor in the middle of the coop, dead. I don't know who did it. I built the wall right then. I gave her the 2 eggs the broody chicken had. Those were all due the same day, the first ones to hatch... she must have been setting longer than I thought.

She now has 2 more babies. I found one kicking around learning to walk outside of the nest, cold. Stuck it back under her. One more egg pipped yesterday, so she might end up with 3. She has no idea what she's doing. She should know to keep the babies with her. So it's possible the other 2 were left out when they crawled out, and they got too cold. It might not have been the boys after all.

The boys hover at the wire wall, very concerned. Watching intently. Getting mad at me. Her going broody has made Earl very watchful of me. He escorts me around the yard now, and chases me when I turn my back on him. He's been getting held a lot. LOL

The chicken... she's a perfect mother. I felt bad for stealing her duck eggs, so I bought her some day old chicks. She now has a clutch of 10 in a broody hut, 4 EEs, 3 Naked Necks, 2 black looking pullets, and one lavender bantam Americauna (I hope!). She's really pleased with herself! I gave them to her in the middle of the afternoon so I could watch her before nightfall, to see what the next morning would be like because I had to be at work at 5:30. She took them!

It took her 4 days to come off the nest. I had to put the food and water nearby to make sure the chicks could pop out and eat.

The chicken is doing a much better job than the duck. The duck is acting like she knows what to do with eggs... but not babies. The chicken was gently rolling chicks under her, making a fuss about it, and keeping them close.

Also bought 3 turkey poults... they're in a brooder. I hear they're sensitive and die easily, so I'm raising them myself. Plus the chicken has her hands full, those babies run her ragged.

If the duck figures this out, she can have more eggs next year. I didn't let them have very many because it was the first time for both of them. The chicken, she can have as many eggs as she can set on! She's a natural.

 

[Going Quackers]

Well we have a new broody, her name is Faith and she will be 1 yr old next month. She is only sitting on 4 eggs but seems to be very determined to brood. I can't say NO to my girls.. any body interested in some ducklings?

If they are ducks... ship them on over Surely, they'd love to be a Canadian?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have seen with my own eyes that there is no comparison between Mama chickens and ducks, chickens are much more attentive to the babies. My mamas ducks were good mamas just completely different than the hens. I have a duck right now that 8 yrs old getting ready to hatch her first duckling, so it will be interesting to see how she does. Congrats on your new ducklings and sorry about the 2 you lost.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If they are ducks... ship them on over Surely, they'd love to be a Canadian?

well we could meet at the border and I could just hand them over.