raisng in a brooder vs letting momma raise them

[spish]

im looking for pros and cons of letting momma duck raise her babies vs taking them off her and raising them indoors

so far i have

letting momma raise them
pros - dont have to fork out for extra electricity for heating/lighting, 'survival of the fittest' only the stronger ones will survive, lower feed bill (momma free ranges)
less mess (no cleaning out brooder/water spills etc) momma teaches them how to survive,

cons - less ducklings reach adulthood - momma is clumsy and lets chicks drown/doesnt cover them all, loose some to predators, momma attacks the other poultry if they come within 3 meters of her


brooding indoors

pros - ducklings are away from predators, i can keep a better eye on them, they will be tamer, more may survive, kids love having ducklings indoors, momma duck will go back to laying quicker?
cons - higher food bill, elec bill, mess, smell, noise, more cleaning, ducks get attached to people, they wont have 'mums' knowledge passed down to them..



anything else?



what do you prefer? leaving mum to it or taking them away?

 

[pekinduck<3er]

leaving with mom becuase she teaches them she will protect them moslty and cost less!and its cute to see mother with her ducklings

 

[FenDruadin]

My ducks don't really go broody, so I always raise them in the house, so take this with a grain of salt. However, it's my understanding that if you do it right and have a good mama duck, she can raise them to adulthood just as safely as indoors. The trick, I believe, is in providing her with a secure, secluded area to raise them in where they can't be accessed by predators or other ducks, but where they still have room to move around and forage a bit. So, for that method, I would say that a con would be that it's more work to set up, but a pro would be that the babies feel more secure and have someone tending them 24-7.

Good luck either way. There's a muscovy mama on our lake who raises a couple batches of ducklings every year. She'll hatch a dozen or so, and then about three or four will reach adulthood. It's a rough world out there, but I bet she'd raise them all if she could afford them the protection of a secure pen.