Hi there,
Soo... long story short, we had two duck eggs in the incubator. One ended up infertile, the other I was convinced had a blood ring and passed in the first week, but obviously we kept him in the incubator. We went ahead and bought three wonderful Cayuga ducklings from a neighbor when they were just a day old and have had the pleasure of watching them grow (like weeds!!) over the last two weeks.
Fast forward a bit, I quickly realized my "dead" egg was not in fact dead at all - on the contrary, he started growing like a weed himself! Now we're entering Day 22 (though I suspect he will be arriving sooner, judging by his overall growth rate and dramatic recent changes to his air cell tonight), and I'm starting to think through how I can safely and successfully integrate this young one in with his older three brothers (they're all drakes in my mind
. I don't actually know for sure).
The three have already grown so quickly and at the rate they're going, they'll probably double again in a week, so we're moving them from their original brooder (small repurposed bird cage padded with towels w/ brooder lamp) into a large pen in the garage so they have more space. My thinking is I could put the newborn in the original brooder cage under the heat lamp right beside of the pen where the older ones will live. That way they can see and talk to each other (and the older brothers can still be drawn to the lamp if they'd like, though the days are certainly hot enough that they should be alright without).
Long story short - any advice on safely introducing this little guy to his older siblings? Should I expect hostility and maybe wait a bit for the smaller one to grow before giving them direct contact with the baby? Should I keep their food and water separate? Any advice or experience is greatly appreciated!
Soo... long story short, we had two duck eggs in the incubator. One ended up infertile, the other I was convinced had a blood ring and passed in the first week, but obviously we kept him in the incubator. We went ahead and bought three wonderful Cayuga ducklings from a neighbor when they were just a day old and have had the pleasure of watching them grow (like weeds!!) over the last two weeks.
Fast forward a bit, I quickly realized my "dead" egg was not in fact dead at all - on the contrary, he started growing like a weed himself! Now we're entering Day 22 (though I suspect he will be arriving sooner, judging by his overall growth rate and dramatic recent changes to his air cell tonight), and I'm starting to think through how I can safely and successfully integrate this young one in with his older three brothers (they're all drakes in my mind
. I don't actually know for sure).The three have already grown so quickly and at the rate they're going, they'll probably double again in a week, so we're moving them from their original brooder (small repurposed bird cage padded with towels w/ brooder lamp) into a large pen in the garage so they have more space. My thinking is I could put the newborn in the original brooder cage under the heat lamp right beside of the pen where the older ones will live. That way they can see and talk to each other (and the older brothers can still be drawn to the lamp if they'd like, though the days are certainly hot enough that they should be alright without).
Long story short - any advice on safely introducing this little guy to his older siblings? Should I expect hostility and maybe wait a bit for the smaller one to grow before giving them direct contact with the baby? Should I keep their food and water separate? Any advice or experience is greatly appreciated!
Boy, are they ready! Now I can prep the old one for the new baby. 
