Two week duckling age gap - advice needed please

[Charlie Chalk]

Hi all, got a bit of an issue (again!).... We have one duckling who is four weeks old, we incubated and hatched her. She was the only fertile egg and we didn't want to raise a solo duck, as soon as we realised, we put more eggs in the incubator and hatched another three between 13 and 15 days later. We've had them in seperate brooders until now, and the little ones are just over two weeks. At the end of the month we're unexpectedly going to have to move house temporarily, so we really need to get them used to each other so we only have one brooder as we simply wont have the space.

I'm absolutely amazed at the size difference, I'm not sure if Dot is a fast developer, but she is huge, nearly completely feathered, and has even started quacking. Last night we moved them into the same brooder, but divided it. They are all so excited by each other - but when I've got them all out of the pen together, Dot (the big one) pecks at them. To be fair, the little ones peck back, but Dot's beak is much stronger and I worry about how well intentioned it is. It's not particularly aggressive, it's just how she explores.

Is there anything else I can do to help this process? How long does it usually take? I've seen lots of other advice on here, but usually it's about introducing little ones to ducks - and the big ones usually outnumber the small ones. I thought a two week age gap would be easier!

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

supervised daily visits and make sure they can see but not touch each other all the time