Slip a batch of duck eggs under a setting hen slowly.
Remember, a broody hen thinks you're out to swipe her eggs
... even if she's sitting on an empty nest. She'll be
temperamental and prone to peck. You can allot up to ten
duck eggs per broody hen. They should hatch in twenty-eight
days, unless you have Muscovy ducks, whose eggs take
thirty-four.
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A mother hen will leave the nest once a day to eat, for
perhaps half an hour. If you're lucky enough to find her
away from her post, take the opportunity to sprinkle the
duck eggs lightly with warm water, particularly toward the
end of the hatching period. Duck eggs, as might be
suspected, need more moisture than their land-fowl
counterparts. Also be sure to turn the eggs once a day. A
chicken will do it herself with her own eggs, but the duck
eggs will be a little too big for her to handle.
THE BROOD
Once the eggs hatch, the mother hen should be confined to a
floorless cage three by three feet in floor area raised
high enough so the young ducklings can crawl under the
bottom to roam farther when they want. Hens like to walk,
ducks are not as adept at it. By confining the hen, she
will not exhaust the ducklings.
Newly hatched ducks do not need to be given food or water
the first twenty-four hours. After that, the care and
feeding schedule is the same as for your first shipment of
day-old ducklings.
When the ducks reach the four-week age, the mother hen may
be released from her confinement to guide her ersatz brood
wherever she wants. At six or seven weeks the young ducks
are ready to swim. If your ducklings have been raised by a
chicken hen, incidentally, be prepared to see her throw a
violent fit when the ducks take to the water instead of to
the roosts. It may be a few days before she gives up on her
rebel swimmers and calms down.
GEESE
Geese are even easier to keep than ducks, for during the
green season they can subsist primarily on pasturage. Their
range, however, should be separate from that for other
livestock, since they are rather sloppy about their
hygiene. Also, don't let them pasture in the orchard if you
have young trees. They will destroy the bark. On the other
hand, they are excellent for weeding strawberry patches;
the stupid things much prefer weeds to luscious sun-ripened
strawberries. Geese are such weed fiends they've been used
for many decades now in "goosing down" cotton, or keeping
the fields clean, down Dixie way.
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