to leave or to take? bad scovy momma :(

[spish]

a few days back one of our scovys hatched out 13 beautiful little ducklings. by the third day she'd already lost 3 and i found the others roaming around on their own about 50M from mum while she was taking a bath(!) i put them back together and she seemed really clumsy with them, stamping all over them and not making many 'motherly' noises to keep them by her, she seemed to leave them out in the rain instead of letting them snuggle under her. i thought perhaps that was too many for her, so took 6 inside leaving her with four...well she 'lost' another one that same day and another one the next so now shes down to just two. should i take these two away from her too? or hope she'll look after them now she doesnt have many at all? i tried keeping her in a small enclosure but it freaked er out badly and she was flapping/stomping all over the place, so let her back out before she flattened the remaining babies. shes not a first time mum, she hatched out eggs last year but killed all but one duckling shortly after hatching

im guessing shes just not mummy material?

 

[spish]

just found one of the two ducklings alone in the road so ive brought it inside, but it isnt looking too good, its 'swaying' and flopping all over the place i dont think its gonna survive long

 

[spish]

it died

so now the question....do i take the last one off her?
what could have killed the other one and possibly its other siblings? the ones in the brooder are fine

 

[spish]

just taken a walk in the neighbouring field and found another duckling body....pretty fresh. momma is walking round duklingless.
im now thinking they been poisoned...i remeber seeing the farmer out here 2 days ago spraying thistles in this field....

((( could it be possible if they've munched on the sprayed grass that the weed killer would kill them but not the momma?

 

[desertdarlene]

If you find any alive, definitely take them in.

I've noticed that ducklings that are hypothermic will also act strange, sway, wobble, and just stare into space.

 

[bossynbella]

we have a Muscovy who is equally bad, although she talks to them all the time and attacks us if we get close, she keeps taking them on extremely long walks up back in the timber, she keeps coming back with less every time. We have tried penning her in four different spots and she just keeps getting out. I may end up taking hers too, seems like some of them are just not good mommies.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Thats a fact, my scovie wanted to hatch all last summer and I didn't let her, so when she started to sit this year I went ahead and let her sit on 3 eggs, we really didn't have room for them, but I felt sorry for her, she was a wonderful broody but when the duckling hatched she tried to kill it, when i found it she had pushed it out of the nest and had already started pecking it, thank goodness i found it when i did, it was still wet so had just hatched. I took it and got it settled in the brooder, and the next egg piped but she wouldn't sit down on it and the membrane dried out, my grandkids were here and we went off for a while and when we got back the piped duckling had died in the shell, the other egg was not fertile. So I now have a house duck, but that mama will never broody again.

 

[spish]

im hoping the other three scovy mommas have better luck with their nests

im dreading them hatching this week...im gonna be stuck with 40+ ducklings in my brooder at this rate!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
I've had some great mama ducks, so most likely the rest will be wonderful mamas. I guess just like us humans some are just not cut out to be mamas. Let us know when the rest hatch..

 

[Bleenie]

I watch all my mommas the first day they come off the nest. I have a few that are excellent broodies(ones building her 3rd nest this year!) but horrible moms! They just like to brood the eggs and don't wanna watch the babies. My particular girl left her's all in the nest so she could go free range with the other birds