Sitting duck BEWARE!

[kesrchicky16]

Ok so i have delt with broody chickens and a human agressive rooster and I'll take them over a sitting/broody duck any day. She scares me!

I have duck eggs in my incubator ready to hatch Tuesday. She started sitting about a week ago (10ish days before my eggs will hatch). Is there a chance i can give her some ducklings and have her care for them? She is sitting on ceramic nest eggs so they won't hatch anyway.

 

[Alina28]

Ok so i have delt with broody chickens and a human agressive rooster and I'll take them over a sitting/broody duck any day. She scares me!I have duck eggs in my incubator ready to hatch Tuesday. She started sitting about a week ago (10ish days before my eggs will hatch). Is there a chance i can give her some ducklings and have her care for them? She is sitting on ceramic nest eggs so they won't hatch anyway.

I think you can give her the ducklings after they hatch or just give her the eggs you have in your incubator right now , it would be a better option . She will do rest of the job. I have also done it before. I hatched ducklings in my incubator then removed the duck from her nest and put the ducklings in there. She was happy to have them but the only problem was that the ducklings were a week old already and didn't want to stay with the duck cause they thought I was there mother. I didn't give my ducks the developing eggs I had in the incubator cause she got broody for the second time and she had messed up all the eggs last time .So I would advice you to give the ducklings to the duck as soon as their feathers get all fluffed up after they hatch if you decide to do so and as I already said it is better if you give her the eggs before they hatch but only if you have confidence in her skills. Remove the duck from the nest or wait for her to go outside while making the exchange Don't do it in front of her then keep an eye on the duck just in case for a while.
Keep us updated.
Good luck!!

 

[kesrchicky16]

I think you can give her the ducklings after they hatch or just give her the eggs you have in your incubator right now , it would be a better option . She will do rest of the job. I have also done it before. I hatched ducklings in my incubator then removed the duck from her nest and put the ducklings in there. She was happy to have them but the only problem was that the ducklings were a week old already and didn't want to stay with the duck cause they thought I was there mother. I didn't give my ducks the developing eggs I had in the incubator cause she got broody for the second time and she had messed up all the eggs last time .So I would advice you to give the ducklings to the duck as soon as their feathers get all fluffed up after they hatch if you decide to do so and as I already said it is better if you give her the eggs before they hatch but only if you have confidence in her skills. Remove the duck from the nest or wait for her to go outside while making the exchange Don't do it in front of her then keep an eye on the duck just in case for a while.
Keep us updated.
Good luck!!

My biggest concern is my farm cats. I have 18 eggs that have the potential to hatch. She can't watch all of them. Will the flock help her defend them? I have 2 duck sitting but one runs off the nest instead of defending it. I have 2 drakes and 7 ducks in the flock.
(I know that is too many drakes. I had 9 females but 1 just died 2 weeks ago and 1 ran away to be a mommy 2 days before these 2 started sitting.)

 

[Nyla]

All my Muscovy's are free range. I have a local cat lady who lives down the street from me with 100's of cats that roam my property plus all the predictors in my area. My girls tend to hatch out 15-20 ducklings each and have no problem taking care of them and defending them. The ducklings will stay by their mother and she will do a fine job of protecting them. I suggest you give her your eggs.
I plan to swap my eggs in my incubator with one of my Muscovy's soon! So I'll let you know how it turns out!

 

[kesrchicky16]

All my Muscovy's are free range. I have a local cat lady who lives down the street from me with 100's of cats that roam my property plus all the predictors in my area. My girls tend to hatch out 15-20 ducklings each and have no problem taking care of them and defending them. The ducklings will stay by their mother and she will do a fine job of protecting them. I suggest you give her your eggs.
I plan to swap my eggs in my incubator with one of my Muscovy's soon! So I'll let you know how it turns out!

Good to hear. I over worry about things. Drives my husband nuts but that's who i am. Maybe I'll trade her eggs instead of watching them hatch. Or maybe I'll trade her half and watch the rest then take them out after a few hours of letting my kids watch them.

I still can't get over how "violent" she is. I keep the food barrels in the coop in the front corner about 8 feet away from her nest and she gets super pissed if I go directly to the food barely even looking in her direction.

 

[Alina28]

Good to hear. I over worry about things. Drives my husband nuts but that's who i am. Maybe I'll trade her eggs instead of watching them hatch. Or maybe I'll trade her half and watch the rest then take them out after a few hours of letting my kids watch them.

I still can't get over how "violent" she is. I keep the food barrels in the coop in the front corner about 8 feet away from her nest and she gets super pissed if I go directly to the food barely even looking in her direction.

I too have faced this problem. My duck was super sweet but whenever she got broody she ran to bite me and succeeded a few times.