Taking away Mama Duck’s Babies ):

[MallardMomx2]

Hi everyone,
I have 2 10 month old mallards, Mallory (female) and Quackers (drake.) On March 6th, Mallory hatched her first clutch of eggs and ended up with four surviving, healthy, beautiful babies! These babies are now 6 weeks old and I am 99% that ALL FOUR of them are drakes So of corse, I will have to find them new homes very soon.

My question is: how is mama Mallory going to react to me taking her babies away from her at this point? She hatched them herself and clearly cares for them very much. I’ve heard of ducks becoming depressed and I do not want this to happen. It will just be her and her mate Quackers in the coop once again. Will she take in more ducklings at this point if I buy some from a hatchery? How do I make this as stress free as possible?
(First pic: Ducklings @ 1.5 weeks)
(Second pic: Mama (front) with her 6 week old babies)

 

[chickens really]

They are old enough to go. She won't care at this age.

 

[Miss Lydia]

She won't accept new babies. At 6 weeks they are def old enough for new homes. She may miss them for a day or two but she'll be fine.

 

[autumn_g]

I just sold 2, week old muscovy ducklings. Momma was mad when I took them. She flat out attacked my leg!! but a a little mealworms goes a long way!!! Within an hour she didnt mind me near her other ducklings

 

[Miss Lydia]

As long as they have some still with them at that young age they usually get over it pretty quick. But at 6 weeks they probably make a sigh of relief to have those teenagers out of their feathers.