ducklings and hens | The Holistic Hen - How to raise quail, chickens and pigeons organically in a food forest

There is no written rule in my experience, as to time limits on introducing chicks, ducks, goslings, quail or baby pigeons to a mother bird. Hens, for instance will adopt babies at any age and even just babysit small pigeons, whilst the parent birds are out foraging. However, this is my experience with my own, relatively tame and trusting flock and not that with my neighbour's killer attack ducks!

Feeding them up

The first thing to do was to get everyone up to speed, as the seven ducklings with the mother ducks, were a day or in one case, a full two days older. I also like to give my chicks the option to feed and drink as soon as they are hatched and want to. I let the mother make the decisions but I always give them plenty of choice. With ducks I also like the food to be very wet, after all that is the way they feed naturally. Our basic poultry food is sprouted, so that was a good start but I also gave them the remains of the breakfast porridge and a lot of shredded lettuce.

Ducklings eating organic food with their Cochin bantam mother

I gave our seven ducklings the run of the kitchen floor, quite literally and as the day progressed they got more and more steady on their feet. In the morning I had been quite concerned that the ducklings seemed very 'floppy' rather like beanbags and therefore to be much too unsteady for the meadow and uneven ground. I accept though that was wishful thinking too. They were so lovely to have around, if it had been left to Pearl and I....

Foot problems and linguistics

The only real difficulty I experienced with Pearl, was that she didn't understand the ducklings' feet. Actually this has happened before when I have had smooth legged mother hens hatch Cochins - the former pull at the feathers on the feet and legs of the chicks. I have also had a hen try to 'clean off' mottled patterning in the down on a baby pigeon. None of these problems seem to persist though, they seem to be a spontaneous reaction to something unusual, which is then just as promptly dismissed. Hens learn very quickly and accept new things and remember them. I always speak to a hen and explain and I'm sure the tone of voice helps in her comprehension. After all, motherhood is stressful enough without hatching a completely different species and with webbed feet to boot!

Ducklings hatched with an organically raised Cochin bantam

One thing that really amazed me with Pearl, was that her voice patterns changed, or maybe it was her language, as she began to speak in a high pitched duck-like way. She wasn't exactly quacking but I got a sneaking idea if we had kept the ducklings any longer that might have happened!

In fact Pearl was an absolute star, she's just over a year old and has never had any experience of hatching chicks before, though she had helped out keeping some eggs warm during an emergency.

Going home to Mother(s)

After a good day feeding up, we decided we should start to repatriate the ducklings late that same afternoon to the neighbour's garden. We thought that the first duckling hatched would be the best one to attempt the experiment, as he was nearer to the other ducklings in age. He also seemed very agile on his feet and ready for the rigours of outdoor life. We were afraid if we kept them another night, they would be so imprinted on us and in particular on Pearl, that they would neither accept nor be accepted by, the mother ducks.

Mother duck on the attack whilst introducing ducklings

It was a lovely sunny, warm day, the temperature was just right and everything augured well for a successful outcome.

With everyone walking well and well-fed, I judged we were ready to make the first attempt at introductions.

Of course, we reckoned without crazy Mamma Duck and her hench-woman.

I don't know how I could have forgotten the previous year's duck hatch, when our neighbour's duck deserted just two remaining ducklings hatching in the nest. We put those eggs in the woodcooker, still warm from breakfast and they hatched and fluffed up in no time but giving them back to the mother was a nightmare. She was vicious and almost drew blood on my hand, before Andy caused a diversion and I finessed them under her. There is so much to be said for getting your birds to trust you even if you don't want them tame, as such.

Yet another reason to have a huge cast iron cooker, with residual heat for hatching ducks!

These mother ducks seemed to have taken a personal dislike to us and obviously thought, rather than returning their offspring, duly hatched, we were about to make off with more ducklings. They gave such a spirited performance, that not surprisingly the poor duckling, being used to the calming influence of gentle Pearl, didn't want to be adopted by these two crazy feathered fiends. The mothers wanted him but he just kept running away.

I've edited the film so you don't get the full effect but in the end I decided he was getting too stressed out, even just the deafening noise was enough. Then of course I had to get him back, which with a belligerent attack duck after me, was no mean feat.

Introducing ducklings hatched with a hen back to the mother duck

I did have the idea that, perhaps, as this duckling had hatched the day before and he had thus been the longest with Pearl, he had imprinted on her the most. However, I also thought if we introduced two ducklings together, then they would at least have each other as a calming presence in a sea of strange faces and mad mothers. The next duckling out was the one who had been in the dried-out egg, so I considered that, although a few hours younger, he would be suitably resilient.

Therefore, even though there was still a lot of aggression towards us, with each other to hold on to, the ducklings' introductions went much smoother.

The next two ducklings were a breeze. We had also taken the extra precaution of filling up their 'mudhole' so they could have an extra swimming and foraging area.

Introducing 3 hen-hatched ducklings back to their duck mother

Letting the last three go though was rather sad for both Pearl, who had however an abandoned pigeon to look after and I who had so enjoyed having them.

Now, if you'd like to sit back and watch the film.

It was wonderful to see all fourteen ducklings together and happy in the sunshine. So that was that. A lovely experience, except for the last bit, which had been a bit fraught. Little did we know, however, that we hadn't yet finished with the duckling disaster hatch.

RELATED POST : Duckling Disaster Part 1

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All the very best,
Sue

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© 2015 Sue Cross

One of the unwritten rules of reciprocal homesteading or smallholding is that animals or birds always choose the time you are away to have a crisis! Our neighbour assured us, before going off on his holidays, that his two ducks always sat together, albeit in separate nests. In the event and unbeknownst to Andy, who went to open them up, the one nest of ducklings had already begun to hatch overnight and the two mothers had both decided to appropriate them. It was lucky that we returned, just an hour later to mow the lawns and noticed both mothers were still out and that there were still only seven ducklings.

By the way the ducks were acting, it was obvious that they were neither of them going to return the ducklings back to the duck house in order to sit the remaining eggs in either nest. Most years our neighbour has left a duck and drake together and it is my belief that the two mothers were now acting as a team. It is also possible that issues with the year's before hatch, where the neighbour's own dog had unfortunately made off with two ducklings, were seared into their memory and they had decided both were needed to protect the ducklings. I noticed that one of the mothers was very aggressive and well to the fore whilst the other duck guarded the rear and the babies were mostly keeping in between the two. I have seen wild ducks and geese do this when moving on a river with a whole flotilla of babies, so I'm guessing it is a basic and very sensible instinct.

Back in the duck shed, the eggs were pipping and one was minus parts of the shell and thus badly dried out, it was necessary to make a quick decision. We scooped up all the eggs and headed back to our house and our broodies. Luckily, as usual, I had quite a few substitute duck mothers and of the four available, I initially chose Pearl, a young Cochin and Mille-feuilles an older and more experienced semi-Cochin. The other two hens went crazy, obviously neither liking the look of the eggs nor the idea of being moved from their respective cosy hen houses and their nice, unhatchable golf balls! These two latter I would class as 'serial sitters' in that, they like the idea of sitting but have no intention of taking on the arduous task of motherhood. I have observations and thoughts under the heading 'why do hens go broody' here

Initially, as it was an emergency and we needed to get the eggs under some heat, I placed the two hens in the one large box I had available. I soon noticed, however, that little Pearl felt uncomfortable with Mille-feuilles and this was exacerbating her stress and uneasiness with the duck eggs. This in particular with the dried out egg, which looked very un-egg like and which furthermore was making very un-chick like sounds. Once I moved Pearl to the only other and rather narrow box we had left she became much calmer and I was able to turn my attention to the most pressing issue of helping the duckling in the dried out egg. As he had already managed to make a small hole he was breathing normally but the membrane in the area devoid of shell had become as tough as leather. Using a tissue and warm water I endeavoured to dampen down the membrane to allow the duckling free movement and to enable him to make another attempt to break the shell. I was careful to keep putting him back under Pearl to keep warm after each 'damping down'.

He actually managed to make a new hole through an area where the shell was still intact and with subsequent damping down alternated with short periods getting warm again under Pearl, he slowly began to emerge.

duckling stuck in shell due to desertion of nest

duckling in dried out egg almost hatched

You can see here in the final stages before he fully emerged from his egg, it was still necessary to keep dampening him down. He was in fact stuck to the egg all the way along his lower back and gave the appearance of sitting in his shell.

As I was not sure if he was still actually joined to the fabric of the egg by any blood vessels, I was very wary of doing anything to intervene in the process of separating him from the egg. Hens take a dust bath in damp soil just before hatch to keep the eggs moist to aid 'break out'.

So, I not only dampened the egg but I also dampened Pearl and Mille-feuilles, so that the eggs and in particular this one, were kept constantly moist. In the case of a mother duck she will normally take a bath before hatch. However, I did not think either Pearl or Mille-feuilles would appreciate that!

Finally he was out...

...it was a wonderful experience to see him safely hatched.

So far Pearl had hatched seven of the eggs we had recovered from the duck house it was now time to let them all have a snack before going to sleep and then think about how we were going to restore them to their biological mother in the morning.... but that's another story...