12 Little Ducklings......

One of our ducks (a White Campbell) has been diligently sitting on a nest of eggs, and Friday morning they began to hatch. Unfortunately she was not in a location safe from cats, and I was about to leave for the airport, so I had to quickly move her and ducklings/eggs to a cage in a cat-proof chicken run. Normally I'd have kept a close eye on her, let them finish hatching, and then move them to a pre-warmed nest, but this time I had to just do it and hope for the best. I moved mama with 3 ducklings, and 9 eggs in various stages of possibly hatching....... A few hours later I was able to check on her. One egg, partly hatched, had rolled out of the nesting box and into the cage itself. I picked it up - completely cold. Figured it was a goner, but a careful peek through the hole in the shell showed the duckling still moving, so I put it back under her.

By the end of the day, we had 12 little ducklings - 6 yellow (which will be white when feathered) and 6 in various combinations if black/brown/yellow. It will be fun to see what colour their feathers are!

Ducklings grow incredibly fast, and are sooooo much hardier than chickens! Last year I had chicks and ducklings hatch on the same day - by 8-10 weeks the ducklings were almost adult size, while the chicks were still very small. If I'd treated close-to-hatching chicks like I did the ducklings above, I could have expected multiple losses, and while I've had many, many clutches of chickens hatch, even in the best circumstances it is almost never a 100% hatch rate!

During the brooding time, chickens will get off the nest for about 15 mins once a day or so, have something to eat, poop, drink, maybe dust bathe, and then dash back to the next before the eggs get cold. Ducks get off once a day too, but they take much longer, have a bath etc, and often their eggs seem completely cold before they get back, though it's probably usually only 20-30 mins. Yet, they survive fine.

I let the duck and ducklings into the bigger run this morning. They're so adorable chasing flies, testing out grass and weeds for edibles, and sunbathing in a big pile.

I love the ones who are coloured with more variation, like this little guy - really interested to see what colour feathers he/she has in time!

For now, the ducklings have 3 shallow containers of water to drink and dip in. Mum has a tall bucket she can dip her head and neck in, but it's too high for the ducklings to jump into as they might drown when they can't get out.

When they are coming up a week old, I will set up the paddling pool for them, and they will love it. Because they're with their mother, they get the oils from her feathers to make them waterproof, and so they can safely swim. Ducklings being raised without a mother should be kept dry until they are a few weeks old, as without the waterproofing oils plus a mother to warm them up, they are prone to getting chilled and sick.

For those wondering at the colour variations of my ducklings, here's a photo of three of the others - the dark fellow is the drake (daddy). As you can see I have another white female, though she is from a batch of crosses last year, as is the light coloured female you see here. I have a pale speckled brown hen too, who is currently sitting on eggs. I started 2 winters ago with three ducks - a white drake, a white hen, and the light brown speckled one, who is a Cayuga/Campbell cross. They had ducklings last year, some of whom we sold, some we ate, and I selected 5 to keep, deciding to switch the drake for one of the more colourful youngsters - though at that stage he had strongly green markings on his neck! The Cayugas tend to be quieter than the White Campbells, so I'm slowly selecting for colour and quietness, as ducks and be quite noisy first thing in the morning!

The ducklings are fed meat bird crumbles for now, plus plenty of fresh water (I have to refill their containers about 4 times a day at the moment!), and fresh greens every day. They LOVE greens! Ducklings should not be fed chick starter crumbles as they are medicated, which are not good for (or needed for) ducklings. The only down side of the meat bird crumbles is that it makes their poop rather smelly, as when they are older I switch them to Happy Hen, a mix of grains.

More duckling photos here in the Critter Blog in days and weeks to come!