We think our Drake just killed our first Duckling :-(

[NorthCalFamily6]

Thank you so much for your lovely replies. It really has helped alot. Today is a new day and the kids are feeling a bit better. The kids and I talked it over and they still love their ducks and just feel sad that it happened... probably will for a while till " Liberty 2" arrives ...we will try again. I will take the advice of others and introduce another female duck into the mix as they get a bit older. We have chickens and a Rooster ( by accident - we were told Sunny the chicken was a girl - now its Sunny the Rooster who thinks he's a king ! ) who we separate as often the Drake and the Rooster have a fight so its all fun and games in the animal pen ;-) . The kids also felt better in knowing that our egg turning wasn't the blame of low hatching rate - there was a lot of finger pointing between kids when only 1 egg out of 10 hatched ! So thank you for that knowledge and yes I will go away and research some more. It is a bit off putting to buy from a " duck breeder" for the purpose to breed and that information to be left - still live and learn. Thank you again to all those who have shared. You are all kind spirits ...what a great web site I have found

 

[City farm]

Condolences from us. .
This is a wonderful Fourm, hope you get to know others in your area. We all help eachother here in our city.. We absoulutly love our "Rick & Lauren" our 20 year old kitty loves to hang out with them.. I love this photo. I tease them & tell them they better be good or else they will go in the roaster.. Just kidding though.. Make for a funny photo..

 

[PaDutchman54]

So sorry this happened. Ducklings are so venerable and cute. Unfortunately, ducklings are at risk from parents, and it is very likely that either mother or the father killed it. I would venture to guess that since the mother didn't brood and hatch the egg herself, she wouldn't realize the duckling was hers once you reintroduced it, and would have no instinct to protect it.

Some of this has to do with the breeds. Many duck breeds, depending on the purpose for which they have traditionally been bred by humans, have a lot of their natural instincts for brooding and hatching eggs bred right out of them. Their natural maternal instincts are gone as a result of artificial incubation methods.

I have one broody duck hen. She is part Magpie and part Mallard. She retains her broody instincts. I have one Pekin hen. Pekin hens do not make good nesting mothers. So, when my Magpie/Mallard went broody, I placed my Pekin's eggs in the broody hen's nest to hatch them for her. My Magpie just hatched her brood of 8 a couple of days ago. All the Pekin eggs hatched as well. The Magpie accepts all the ducklings as her own and has become extremely aggressive and protective of her brood. I kept her separated from the other ducks from the moment she went broody. I still keep her and her 8 new ducklings separated from the rest. My drake is very aggressive and will kill them if he can get hold of them. I have had this experience with him with previous hatchlings. He is aggressive towards this batch of new hatchlings as well. He tries to nip at them through the fence, and yesterday he even managed to pull one through it! Fortunately, we caught him in time to save the little duckling who survived that trauma. But, he was at it again today. He flew up over the barrier fencing after them. Again, I was able to catch him before he could do any damage. The Pekin hen does not recognize any of those ducklings as hers even though three of them belong to her. And, I wouldn't trust her around them either. The ducklings will remain separated from the other adults until they are fully mature.

Incidentally, if you want to try raising ducks naturally and your breed is not known for its maternal instincts, you can also place the eggs under a broody chicken hen who will hatch them along with her own eggs.

So sorry again for what happened. I know how traumatic this can be. I have lost several birds over the years to hawks or raccoons. It is never pleasant.