Really need some help regarding an assorted hatch!! sad update...

[EllyMae]

I honestly have searched the site to find an answer but I'm almost in a panic....
I set bantam cochin and bantam duck eggs under a broody. Well, now it sounds like (after searching the internet) it takes bantam duck eggs longer? Day 21 is going to me this coming Saturday, March 14th. Soooo
#1 If the cochins DO hatch before the ducks, should I remove them from the momma asap so she will keep sitting on the ducks?
#2 Has anyone been in this type of dilemma before or am I just a real dumb dumb????
#3 And just how many days for a BANTAM duck to hatch...not standard.

THanks so much....I am going to need nerve medication...

 

[EllyMae]

Come on, pretty please? I can't find these answers on the internet and am desperate, lol. Thanks a bunch!

 

[Guitartists]

You could remove the eggs on day 18 and put them in a hatcher to finish hatching, and just let her finish with the duck eggs. I'm not sure about bantam ducks.... hopefully someone will answer that for you... I have never hatched duck eggs.

 

[DawnSuiter]

I would let her keep whoever you wanted her to raise, and take the others and hatch them myself.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
No nerve medication and no more coffee! Maybe a cup of non-caffeinated tea. You do have a problem, but you have options.

I assume you do not have an incubator or you would not have a problem. You can get an incubator or maybe a hatcher as Guitartist suggested.

You can decide which you want and sacrifice the others. Not a good option, I know. If you decide to sacrifice the ducks, don't remove the eggs until you are assured of a chicken hatch. That also keeps other options open longer.

If another hen goes broody, you can put the duck eggs under her. Not much time left for that, I know.

Hopefully someone else will come up with other options. Good luck.

 

[Fudgie]

If it were me in this predicament i would think I have 4 choices

1) let the chicks hatch and pull to a brooder (rubbermaid container with a heatlamp) as soon as they hatch and let her finish the ducklings which take 28 days.

2) remove the duck eggs and set them in an incubator. Ask around someone may have an incubator you can borrow for a week or 2. Ask the school or an ag teacher

3) let hatch what hatches and hope momma continues to set on the duck eggs while the little chickies fluff up and become mobile. You are probably talking like 3-4 days that you might need an alternative heat source for the ducklings

4) remove the chick eggs and put them in an incubator as a hatcher and let the chicken momma hatch the ducklings under her.

 

[Wifezilla]

Sacrifice the bantam ducks???

Do you have any idea what those things sell for???

You can make an emergency incubator/hatcher out of a snake necked lamp and a large cardboard box. Get a digital thermometer/hygrometer with a little tab probe. Put the probe in an old pill box filled with aloe gel and close it up. Adjust the lamp height until the pill bottle reads the correct temp after it has been under the light for a while (it will take the gel a while to warm up...it simulates the temps inside the egg).

Because of humidity issues with the ducklings, it might be easier to pull the chicken eggs right before they hatch and let mama hatch the ducks. If your area is very dry, I would do the opposite and use pans of water with sponges to get that humidity up.

P.S. I see you are in NC. Humidity shouldn't be a problem

 

[Ridgerunner]

Check this thread. It appears Okiehen has some experience in removing chicks as they hatch. This might help.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=143763

 

[EllyMae]

Thank you everyone sooooo much. I am honestly going to drive myself and everyone else nuts about this...live and learn I guess. I think I'm going to take the chicks as soon as they hatch and put them in a brooder. Do you think she will continue to sit on the ducks? What's the diff between a hatcher and incubator?

 

[CindyS]

I think that is the wisest and simplest decision. The chicks will fluff up rather quickly under the hen. Just get them away from her before she decides to get up. She should then continue to incubate the duck eggs. A hatcher simply means another bator to use to hatch chicks only, leaving the main incubator cleaner and ready to incubate another batch of eggs, provining continual incubaing-hatching.