June 28, 2016

What Happened to Mama Duck & Her Eggs

At the beginning of the month I told you how we discovered that our missing Muscovy duck hadn't been snatched by a predator, but had disappeared to make a nest and set a clutch of eggs. We discovered this when Dan found one of our ducks wrestling a rat snake over an egg in front of the hay hut. (That story here, "No Hope for Ducklings?") Considering the number of eggshells we'd found and that Dan ended up killing three snakes, we didn't know if she had any eggs left.

When we decided we'd better fix the old goat shed roof ("The Old Goat Shed: Roof It Or Lose It") we needed to move the hay hut because it was right in front of the shed. Dan could pull the hay hut away with the tractor, but we didn't know the status of Mama Duck and her nest. We didn't know the target hatch date and didn't want to hurt her or her eggs (if she had any left). Dan thought he could lift one side of the hay hut with the tractor and then take a look to see what was what. If she was still there I could put her and her nest into the dog crate and move it into the chicken coop. I knew from experience that broody mamas don't like to be moved, but I could close the crate door until she got used to being there. Neither of us thought her spot a very good choice, anyway, because of our cats.

We lifted the hay hut up and looked. No Mama Duck. Dan knew approximately where the nest was but could see no eggs. What had happened? Had the snakes gotten them all? He chained the structure to the tractor and pulled it away from the goat shed.

Well, guess what. Her nest was there and it was full of eggs! They were still warm and the worst part was that we had cracked three or four of them. We could see fully developed ducklings inside. And! They were still alive!

What to do, what to do. My first thought was to push them back under the hay hut in hopes Mama Duck would find them. Noise from the tractor had likely scared her off and I just hoped that when she came back she'd go to the hay hut; it was only a dozen or so feet from its original location.

All the rest of the day Mama kept looking for her nest, except she always stopped where the nest used to be. I made a trail of chicken scratch from the old spot to the edge of the hay hut, thinking if she got close to the hut it would look familiar and she would think to look underneath. She didn't. She kept going back to the original location of her nest.

Our nighttime low was scheduled to drop into the 50s, which worried me, because I didn't think the half-hatched ducklings nor the rest of the eggs would survive that. We could put them under the brooder lamp, but eggs need more than heat to develop. They need turning and the correct humidity. Without a proper incubator the chances of success seemed slim. The only other place to put them was here...


I had two broodies, a chicken and a duck, vying for the exact same spot under the nest boxes in the chicken coop. I knew they had some eggs, but if I could put Mama Duck's eggs under them, maybe they had a chance.

All we could do after that was wait. The saddest part was that Mama Duck kept looking for her nest. Every time I went out to the chicken yard or goat shed, she would run up to me and cock her head as if to ask where they were. I tried several times to catch her, telling her I'd take her to them, but she wouldn't let me get that close.

A couple of days later I heard some low chicken clucking. I took a peek under the nest boxes and saw this.


For the next couple of days we could hear peeping, but rarely saw the ducklings. One day Mama Hen was off the nest and I saw this.


Later that day we got a head count.


Four ducklings had survived, and been adopted by Mama Hen!


She warms them, feeds them, and protects them. Mama Hen is one happy chicken!


Several days later she took them outside for the first time. It was amazing that even at a couple days old the ducklings instinctively try to catch flying bugs. The adult Muscovies are very good fly catchers, and the babies did what ducks do.


And Mama Duck? It seems that by the time she got over looking for her nest she'd lost her inclination toward broodiness. She looks at the ducklings with interest but makes no attempt to reclaim them.

For now, Mama Hen has her brood, the other broody duck has the nest to herself, and the ducklings are being taken care of. I suspect it's only a matter of time before the ducklings start to prefer the company of the other ducks. All species seem to know their own kind, indeed, even the breeds within the species often know their own kind. Those truths can be found in the old agrarian sayings which are embedded in our language. Things like "birds of a feather stick together." These aren't strict rules, of course, but generalizations. Most often the generalizations are true. I just hope they stick with Mama Hen long enough for her to be done with her broody.

31 comments:

Goatldi said...

Well worth the wait! Good job.

Dani said...

Cute :)

Henny Penny said...

I love stories with a happy ending and lots of times with chickens, guineas, and ducks the ending is not so happy. The pictures are adorable. We have a hen sitting on five guinea eggs now. Hope that works out! Loved your story!

PioneerPreppy said...

Well you got the ducks hatched!!! We got a broody hen now I need to figure something out about too as she is off the ground with her eggs.

Jason and Michelle said...

How sweet! I'm glad the hen adopted them.

Debbie - Mountain Mama said...

I can't help but be sad for poor mama duck, losing her nest after protecting the eggs for so long!

M.K. said...

What a fun story! Y'all did so good, saving those eggs and letting Mama Hen care for them. Sweet, very sweet.

Farmer Barb said...

YEA!! Maybe you will have a drake in there! How many eggs did you put under Mama Hen? How many were too damaged? I ordered a drake Buff duck so we could have ducklings. They are so cute! Gussie is 2 1/2 weeks old and we can't get enough of her!

Renee Nefe said...

was mama duck the same one who fought off the snakes? poor mama. :( glad her babies lived anyway.

Michelle said...

Well, four is SOME; yay!

DFW said...

Leigh, They are soooo cute. Glad they hatched out & have a good mama hen to protect them for now. Everyone needs a good mama hen for awhile anyway, right?

Sandy Livesay said...

Leigh,

Adorable little babies. Good to hear your hen took to the eggs.

Unknown said...

Love this story, so glad you were able to save the ducklings!

aart said...

OMGoodness!! What a Critter Tale!

Wondering, what about the eggs mama chicken was already sitting on?

Chris said...

I do feel for mama duck, but at least some of the fruit of her efforts, survived, and that's a good thing. :) You did everything you could to help.

Leigh said...

Since both the hen and the duck were trying to set on the same spot, I just shoved them under the two and let nature take it's course. Mama Hen had been broody for longer, so when the ducklings hatched, she was really overdue to leave the nest. Mrs. Duck is still hanging in there!

Leigh said...

Thankfully Mama Hen was willing!

Leigh said...

Me too, especially at first when she kept looking for them. After awhile though, their hormones settle down and if they don't mind, I don't mind.

Leigh said...

Sometimes it's hard to move them. They pick the spot and they are going to stick to the spot! I've had success if I can put broody hen plus nest with eggs in a crate or pet carrier. Otherwise they abandon the eggs and go back to the original nest.

Leigh said...

As far as we could tell, they are mostly duck eggs, which is why Mrs. 2nd Broody Duck wasn't going to give up the nest!

Leigh said...

But there was no way to tell her what happened, and that was hard. It wasn't a good choice for a nest anyway. Even what the snakes didn't get wouldn't have had a chance against our four cats.

Liz said...

Oh what a great farm story! Sometimes they don't have such a happy ending! And those pictures sure are heartwarming!

1st Man said...

What a great story to share and as was said, a happy ending. Baby "anythings" are so adorable, ha. Thanks!!

Donna OShaughnessy said...

Fantastic pictures! We too have put duck eggs under chickens and chicken eggs under ducks. When a nest gets abandoned and the eggs get old we feed them to the pigs. True farm "recycling"

Unknown said...

So sweet :)

aart said...

Ahh, so Mrs. 2nd Broody Duck took over them all....time will tell!

Harry Flashman said...

Grim. Especially about the snakes and the eggs with ducks in them. One of our hens abandoned her ten hatchlings. Fortunately one of the Silky hens adopted them and is proving to be an excellent mother.

Goatldi said...

Me too Leigh. Whenever I relocate a hen on the nest I put her in a large dog crate a wire one. That keeps her from abandoning ship and never coming back.

Leigh said...

This particular Mama hen did a lot of nest hopping earlier on, which is why she didn't get to keep the chicken eggs. For some reason, competition with Mrs. 2nd Broody Duck was reason enough to want to stick to that particular nest! At least by adopting the ducklings, she's let the duck have it to herself (no more squabbling!)

Leigh said...

There is no waste on a farm!

Leigh said...

She abandoned them when they hatched?! The whole mechanism for broodiness and mothering in chickens seems complex. Nice to have a volunteer to step up to the plate!