Question about Muscovy Mama's

[chicnchic]

I have had chickens for about a year now, but am fairly new to ducks......I have 2 Scovy's that shared a nest and are now sharing the babies.

I have another Mama sitting on a nest, due to hatch soon, but in a different pen (With the drake, which will get rectified today!). Can I open the pens up and allow the Mama's and their ducklings to be together? If so, would it be better to do it BEFORE or AFTER the hatch?
Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions!!

 

[Czech's_chicks]

Drakes are known to kill ducklings, so what ever you decide to do with the mom and babies, make sure you provide a safe haven for them AWAY from the drake.

I always segregate my broodies because you can never tell how they will react. The ONLY time I've ever been 100% sure of theducklings protection outside segregation was when my two-goose couple would care for ducklings...nothing got close enough to the ducklings to do any harm.

Scovy moms are pitbulls and fierce to protect the babies, but not a lot of common sense...they will let babies drown in waterers and some young moms won't sit on all of them (lost 2 that way myself)

 

[chicnchic]

Czech's_chicks :

Drakes are known to kill ducklings, so what ever you decide to do with the mom and babies, make sure you provide a safe haven for them AWAY from the drake.

That I knew, and we made a separate pen for the drake today, but he sure does want to visit the ladies!

Czech's_chicks :

I always segregate my broodies because you can never tell how they will react. The ONLY time I've ever been 100% sure of the ducklings protection outside segregation was when my two-goose couple would care for ducklings...nothing got close enough to the ducklings to do any harm.
Scovy moms are pitbulls and fierce to protect the babies, but not a lot of common sense...they will let babies drown in waterers and some young moms won't sit on all of them (lost 2 that way myself)

This is what I was wondering....the two I have together stole each others eggs, and ended up both sitting on all of the eggs, with a pretty low hatch ratio, so I'll probably segregate in the future....and now they are both "mothering" the ducklings, with no losses since they hatched!

Have you ever introduced a new mother and babies into a pen with older babies and their moms?​