Should I remove ducklings from mama’s care?

[Stierney98]

Our Golden 300 hatched 8 chicks. They are just over a week old. She was quite attentive at first but now she keeps losing babies. We are down to 5. Yesterday there were 7. It is breaking our hearts to keep finding dead ones (or not finding the most recent missing one). She doesn’t stay in the coop with them. She has them all over about 5 acres of our property. It is cold and rainy and she has them out in it.

Part of me wants to let her do the work but she is showing less and less interest. They follow her and our drakes around. She stops now and then to let them catch up but often gets super far from them. She gets upset when we get close but my son has had to rescue them multiple times in the past two days. It is hurting his heart to keep saving them to find them dead later.

Would I really be screwing up to pull them from her? I’d like them to live.

 

[GoatDragonFarms]

If this were a chicken hen, I would take the chicks from her and pop them in to a brooder. Better for them and your family.
Let's get the attention of folks with more experience in this...

Hang in there.

 

[Jpat]

is it her first time raising ducklings?

ide take them in, its not going to have any negative affects and youll be able to bond with them better

But i have no experience realy

@Miss Lydia

 

[Stierney98]

This is her first time as a mama. Her and her sister hatched out 1 last spring and it died the next day because neither watched it and it got trampled. She’s doing better alone as a mama but still seems more into doing her own thing.

 

[Jpat]

if shes got a poor history then ide save the heartbreak and make a brooder... atleast give them a couple weeks to grow strong

 

[Stierney98]

I moved them. She didn’t seem especially upset. She was more upset that I was in the coop. It is very stormy and will be for a few days. There are places in our yard deep enough for them to drown. I just feel better knowing they will make it long enough to have a fighting chance on their own.