Hatching duck and chicken eggs with broody hen

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Hi everyone,

A bit of advise needed please! My brahma hen has gone broody, so yesturday I bought a mixed batch of 8 hatching chicken eggs, but fell soft and got an Aylebury duck egg as well as I've always longed for a pet duck! I moved the hen out of the main coop and into one of her own yesturday and at present she is trying to hatch 4 golf balls (these I intend to swap for the real thing this evening).
I have read on the internet this morning though that duck eggs take longer to hatch than chicken eggs, can anyone see this presenting a problem, will she give up on it once the chickens have hatched?
Also if all goes ok will I have to feed the duckling on different food and have different drinkers etc to the chicks?
Any other advise welcome!

Thanks,

Elaine.
 
Hello, please just forget about the duck egg- she will hatch the chicks and them come off- you can't keep her on the nest with chickens and expect her to hatch a duckling a full week later- the chicks need to eat and drink. Perhaps the next broody you get you can set her with duck eggs- that way they all hatch at the same time. It is also not fair to keep one duckling on its own- i know it would be with the chicks but they need different care and their own company. hope it helps, regards, David :)
 
Ditto the above. Forget the duck egg. She'll only sit a couple of days after the first chicken egg hatches and the rest are done and the duck egg will be left.

And yes, different feed, different way of eating totally. Also will need water to drink but not sit in till feathers are through etc as can drown before this.

I'd advise not putting a duck egg under her and if you really want a couple of ducks getting them from a breeder already hatched and having a few for company. One duck on its own will be very lonely and I do think they benefit from companionship.

Also please be under no illusion, ducks are messy smelly creatures whose care and roosting needs are nothing like chickens.
 
Hi,

Thanks everyone for replying,
I only put the 8 chicken eggs under broody as wouldn't want to cause any problems - this was Monday evening. She accepted all the brown ones but rejected two which were white! A friend has put these two under her broody silkie yesturday evening (Tuesday). Does anyone see a problem if I sneak these two in with the rest once they have all hatched, or will my hen notice she has two extra chicks?

Thanks again,

Elaine.
 
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