Thread formerly known as Hatch day is today

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks Miss Lydia, awoke this am to 4 new hatchlings! They are precious. Three are very black, and look like they'll have large bibs of white, and white tips on wings. One looks just like a Rouen. Their mother still has 4 eggs. She seemed to be struggling to cover them all, so I added some hay to her area. Weather was chilly today so all moms and babies stayed indoors. The 2 week old is really growing but it is still to small for me to allow the drakes near it. That mom seems to be wanting to rejoin the flock. Yesterday when I took mom & baby to the small fenced area, mom just hollered the entire time, looking for a way out. So I walked the pair back to the enclosed pen area. On the way, my Jumbo Pekin Drake tried pinning the baby. I thought that letting mom raise the ducklings basically guaranteed acceptance into the flock? And after these 2 hatches, my flock size has almost doubled!

The ducklings need to be at least 4-6 weeks old before introduced to drakes and then only with supervision. Mama has a duty to do so it doesn't matter if she hollers keep her with the lil one. after about 3 weeks she may lose interest all together since she just has the one. Drakes and ducks for that matter can be pretty nasty to another ducks ducklings and some mama will protect to the death some are pretty non caring so it will be up to you to protect baby. Hopefully your newest mama will do better, I think only having one duckling does something to their mindset I had a couple ducks only hatch out 1 duckling and after a couple weeks they were pretty much done, but that was in the summer too so much warmer. Congrats on the new ones, don't forget the pics.

 

[Pyxis]

I must be really lucky with my drakes, hearing all these stories about them being mean to the babies! When I introduced my new female and her single 3 day old duckling to the flock, I just put her right in with the two drakes. This was back when I was having drake issues and I was 'giving' her to those two boys to be their girl until I found a new home for the other drakes. At that point I only had one girl and five boys, ugh. There was no possible way the baby was theirs, and they were still very sweet to it. My welsh harlequin drake would even wait for the baby if it started to fall behind the flock and would walk right behind her until she caught up with everybody. She's still out there with everybody, happy as can be and unharmed. Neither drake even thought about going after her, even when momma duck lost interest at about 3 weeks. At that point, my drake Crackers was the only one even looking after her, really. He's the one that would wait for her. Guess I'm lucky and have two special boys!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I must be really lucky with my drakes, hearing all these stories about them being mean to the babies! When I introduced my new female and her single 3 day old duckling to the flock, I just put her right in with the two drakes. This was back when I was having drake issues and I was 'giving' her to those two boys to be their girl until I found a new home for the other drakes. At that point I only had one girl and five boys, ugh. There was no possible way the baby was theirs, and they were still very sweet to it. My welsh harlequin drake would even wait for the baby if it started to fall behind the flock and would walk right behind her until she caught up with everybody. She's still out there with everybody, happy as can be and unharmed. Neither drake even thought about going after her, even when momma duck lost interest at about 3 weeks. At that point, my drake Crackers was the only one even looking after her, really. He's the one that would wait for her. Guess I'm lucky and have two special boys!

You really are, I haven't had a problem with my drakes either but it was because my gander looked after the ducklings.

 

[Wulfandwyn]

I know they aren't ducks and I didn't hatch them myself but here are my new SFH chicks and one silkie that I bought from a BYCer today. I was going to stay strong and only get the Swedish Flower Hen chicks but the silkie was soooo cute.

 

[JulieNKC]

I know they aren't ducks and I didn't hatch them myself but here are my new SFH chicks and one silkie that I bought from a BYCer today. I was going to stay strong and only get the Swedish Flower Hen chicks but the silkie was soooo cute.

Cute babies Wulf. Love sfh, can't wait to see your babies when they get some feathers. It's fun watching the colors come in when you don't know what the end result will be.

 

[Kevin565]

I know they aren't ducks and I didn't hatch them myself but here are my new SFH chicks and one silkie that I bought from a BYCer today. I was going to stay strong and only get the Swedish Flower Hen chicks but the silkie was soooo cute.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

So cute! Really neat colors. Thx for the tales about drakes. The 2 wk old duckling is really growing and today I put it out with mom and two sisters. They all sort of look like they're ignoring one another, but they ran up together for treats. I'm afraid mom has already lost interest... Today is 57' F, windy and chilly, and it just seems like the baby is trying to get closer to mom but she's moving away! Oh, and this am, both of them were out of the brooder area, but still inside the the interior pen. So what do we do if mom does this? Baby is quiet and not complaining, as far as I can tell. I have read older threads about how ducks won't feel cold like I do, but I still worry because he is so little. The other 4 babies are inside with their mom. One was a little slower than the rest, that one I fed some hard boiled egg yolk and I can't tell it apart from the others today. Miss Lydia, you know I would post pics if I could just figure out how! Thanks Everybody. I'd be so lost without this site. Now I'm thinking on to Winterizing the pen...

 

[Pyxis]

So, who's got ideas for cheap nesting boxes? My new ducky house will be done this weekend and I need some ideas for nesting boxes because, silly me, while I remembered to allow for outside nesting boxes on the chicken coop portion, I forgot to do it for the ducks So now I need some neat, cheap ideas for nesting boxes that can go inside their coop with them. I'll have to post pictures of this thing when I'm done - it's monstrous. It ended up eight feet tall because it's a double decker type thing.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

My ducks like to make their own nests out of straw. Mr.PekinDuck suggested adding moss. Mine have built nests indoors, under the ramp, and outdoors in milk crates and Rubbermaid totes. Also in an old wooden recycled kids' playhouse. I don't think it needs to be fancy... I saw an old dresser frame that I considered repurposing for the ducks... But I'm out of room! Have fun building.

 

[JulieNKC]

i need a better/bigger pic but here are 2 of my magpie calls that have hatched this last week.

I have more due the next couple of days, EE's due Sunday, serama's being set tonight or tomorrow, and call's due in about 3 weeks too. It was too hot all summer to hatch so now I am making up for it, lol.