My 2 girls have been sitting on a combined nest of about 24 eggs. This is their first year hatching. I am not sure what happened but we had 2 eggs hatch yesterday. I wasn't home and have no idea how all that went. We came home for only a few minutes (end of the year school activities has me running crazy yesterday) and I noticed the dog showing a unusual attention to the duck house. I went over to see and I could hear them going crazy from several feet away. the 2 girls were flipping out. I noticed an egg that the top was broken off and it was oozing blood. I couldn't really see in the egg but it was obvious that one didn't make it. BTW it was not my dog. My dog loves eggs but he snatches and runs. And he has never taken one off a nest, he waits for me to take them off and watches in case I set them down and if any of the birds lay outside a nest he goes for it. Anyway, it was crazy in there. It appeared that the 2 girls were fighting but I am not sure because wings were flying everywhere. There were eggs scattered all over the house floor like they knocked them out while fighting. I noticed 2 babies in the back (they would have been at the most only a few hours old). The girls were right on top of them for a portion of the freak out. I opened the back doors up and that made the girls go out of the house. The babies appeared to be ok. Since I had to leave but only for about 20 minutes I locked the girls out of the house since I didn't know what the issue was. I came back and opened it back up and watched. The girls got back on their nest and ignored the babies in the back. They were at the point farthest away from the nest. I just left them alone to see what would happen- this is my first year with mom/hatchlings as well. We checked the babies every hour through a nesting box door- the girls can't see us checking from their nest. We noticed one not doing so well and discovered that he had been stepped on during the freak out. My husband had to take care of him- poor hubby. He has culled before but this is quite different, he's never had to take care of a such a young baby. The other one still seems perfectly healthy When the girls came out for dinner I put the eggs back into the nest- one was pipping and I could see movement inside. We left baby in the back alone. I checked again before bed and he was still back there by himself and he was shivering. I tried putting him closer to the nest but the girls hissed at him and one attacked. So I snatched him up and he is now in our house. The girls did not kick any of the eggs back out so they have accepted them back into their nest. This morning I checked they have 2 more babies in the nest with them with no apparent issues.
My question is - if I wait for the girls to come out for dinner and fresh pool water (they do everyday at the same time) can I slip the duckling back into the nest? I don't know what the freak out was about. I don't know if they were fighting over them and they got thrown to the back of the house or one drug them out of the nests and maybe the other freaked out because of that or if the dog got too close for comfort and they freaked out and the ducklings got thrown around in the process. It makes me nervous that the one attacked when I put the baby close to the nest but I was wondering if I put it into the nest if it would be different. If they kicked him out of the nest will they do it again or kill him?
We can keep him in the house. Our brooder currently has baby chickens in it but they are big enough to move into their introduction to the coop pen. But he is all alone so if we keep him in the house I am going to have to steal another duckling for him.
Also we have a broody goose. She is a "special" one. She tends to stick to herself, she is pretty calm and pretty friendly for a goose. She is very relaxed, probably too relaxed. She has been sitting on her nest for a while and I am pretty sure nothing is going to hatch. All the eggs we collected before she started sitting weren't fertilized. I was wondering if I might sneak the duckling into her nest? We got some ducklings and baby geese by mail in April. They are in a separate pen but all 4 of my adult geese showed an interest in the babies. My adult males tried to herd them back to their pen several times. Now that they are a little older the adults (1 girl and my 2 boys) don't actively try to separate the babies geese from the ducklings but if they do get separated they try to herd the baby geese away. My special girl is still on the nest, the other girl gave up a couple of days ago. Do I dare try putting this duckling in with her? I think she will be fine my biggest concern with that one is what the other 3 adults will do. They obviously are protective over the other babies but Butterfly (my special goose) isn't much in the way of defender. If they decide to go after the duckling I am not sure Butterfly will stop it.
My question is - if I wait for the girls to come out for dinner and fresh pool water (they do everyday at the same time) can I slip the duckling back into the nest? I don't know what the freak out was about. I don't know if they were fighting over them and they got thrown to the back of the house or one drug them out of the nests and maybe the other freaked out because of that or if the dog got too close for comfort and they freaked out and the ducklings got thrown around in the process. It makes me nervous that the one attacked when I put the baby close to the nest but I was wondering if I put it into the nest if it would be different. If they kicked him out of the nest will they do it again or kill him?
We can keep him in the house. Our brooder currently has baby chickens in it but they are big enough to move into their introduction to the coop pen. But he is all alone so if we keep him in the house I am going to have to steal another duckling for him.
Also we have a broody goose. She is a "special" one. She tends to stick to herself, she is pretty calm and pretty friendly for a goose. She is very relaxed, probably too relaxed. She has been sitting on her nest for a while and I am pretty sure nothing is going to hatch. All the eggs we collected before she started sitting weren't fertilized. I was wondering if I might sneak the duckling into her nest? We got some ducklings and baby geese by mail in April. They are in a separate pen but all 4 of my adult geese showed an interest in the babies. My adult males tried to herd them back to their pen several times. Now that they are a little older the adults (1 girl and my 2 boys) don't actively try to separate the babies geese from the ducklings but if they do get separated they try to herd the baby geese away. My special girl is still on the nest, the other girl gave up a couple of days ago. Do I dare try putting this duckling in with her? I think she will be fine my biggest concern with that one is what the other 3 adults will do. They obviously are protective over the other babies but Butterfly (my special goose) isn't much in the way of defender. If they decide to go after the duckling I am not sure Butterfly will stop it.
