07/29/2026
This hen isn’t just hanging out with these young ducks by mistake or unwillingly, she’s their Momma! She discovered a nest of duck eggs & decided to adopt them, which unbeknownst to her, would require 28 days of setting instead of 21 days that’s needed for chicken eggs to hatch. She stayed the 4 weeks & successfully hatched out this group of 7 ducks. She was their Momma by heart & did all the Momma hen duties of love for them, and these ducklings have returned that love as best a duckling could. She didn’t understand their love of water as they splashed in the little kiddie pool all day but she would oversee their play time, clucking nervously warning them to be careful. She would perch on the edge of the pool late every evening & roost there while her babies continued floating around in the swimming pool in the dark! She scratched in the dirt all day each day finding insects, call for her babies to come eat and they would all jump out of the pool, run to her and gobble up what she found. She’s been a devoted Mom of her adopted children & at the time of this video, had raised her ducklings near the point where they won’t need her any longer and she will leave them to lay eggs for a new family of her own. I’ve let chicken hens hatch duck eggs many times before but this was the first harmonious family arrangement that I’ve ever had play out. Usually the hen leaves the baby ducks when she realizes their not ‘normal chicks’ & I have to take the baby ducks to raise in a brooder pen.