Duckling survival rate? Do duck hens share parenting duty? (1 Viewer)

So roughly how many ducklings make it to adulthood from an average brood? Is it common for females to combine their efforts at guarding the ducklings, or even babysit so the other can gather food?

Some background and observations that led to the question:

I'm in a subdivision outside Houston that has a dozen horseshoe lakes interspersed throughout the neighborhoods, remnants of the bayou floodplain before the levees were built. The one I overlook has about 1.5 miles of shoreline, varies from 150-500' in width, is enclosed but aerated with fountains, and the edges are lined with stone or concrete curb. My side has a long narrow artificial island, 30' wide and 600' long, with about 100' of water on either side, with about 20 deciduous trees (mostly water cypress), grass and clover. Both it and the grass shoreline are occasionally mowed or weed-whacked by landscapers (egg-thieves!)

We have a large collection of Muscovy, Mallard, and Whistling Ducks, along with a single tag-along misfit Baby Huey, a white domestic or Pekin presumably dumped after the novelty of an Easter gift wore off. Actually 4 of his kin sometimes swim by, but for some reason he never associates with them and keeps trying to be a Mallard. Plenty of American Coots and also a dozen+ geese. I guess these are snow geese because most are pure white, though they don't have any black on the wings. Some have plenty of gray mixed in on their back, perhaps still in a younger stage?

Those are the residents, attracted by a neighbor who once or twice daily tosses out a pot of seeds, grains, breads, crackers, or popcorn. Not sure if there is any fish in the lake, but an Anhinga or two can be seen most days. A few days ago several Black-Crowned Night Herons began prowling about. More on that in a second.

About 3 weeks ago I saw a Muscovy lead her ducklings down to the pond's edge while she got a drink, but they didn't go in. That was the only sighting of young until yesterday (I work from home so keep an eye on the pond pretty much every day.) At lunch yesterday I noticed a lone Muscovy on the north end of the island leading ducklings through the tall clover. They took a half-hour swim and then climbed back up the island's curb, which was a bit amazing given that it extended up about 3 times their height. It was easy to count them as they climbed almost one by one, and there were 13 total.

This had attracted several Night Herons, and over a few hours they maneuvered and waited, in between trying to chase off each other. The Muscovy was cautious at first, but after a bit would start walking again, occasionally half rising and flapping her wings when a heron got too close. But sure enough, eventually one swooped in and picked up a duckling, twice in 10 minutes. The dance continued off and on, but by sundown she still had 11 ducklings remaining.

This morning the lone Muscovy was again at the north end of the island (she never has seemed to venture beyond the north half of the island and the waters or immediate shoreline around it.) But it was a bit shocking when she went for a swim that only a single duckling was with her. The 4 herons were still present, and about a half hour later one swooped in and took away the last duckling. The hen then did the dunking of the neck under water and splashing that they often do after mating, and then went back to wandering and sitting at the north end of the island, by herself.

So how many ducklings is it common for a hen to lose in a season? I was a bit surprised to see the hen wander with the ducklings when predator birds were on either side of her, within 20-40 feet or so. She appeared constantly aware of them, but was that riskier than normal behavior for a Muscovy hen? I.e., was this perhaps a hen with poor parenting instincts compared to most?

But several hours later there was a twist. I looked out at the island and the solo hen was nowhere on it, however a Muscovy had 20 ducklings following it on a swim around the north end of the tiny island. There was another hen swimming just a bit behind but pretty much with them. After a while they all pulled up to the north side of the tiny island, but then then one led 6 ducklings up and onto the island while the other hen took the remaining 14 for another half hour of swimming. The Muscovy with the 6 ducklings on the island had the docile nature of yesterday's hen as they wandered through the clover, with herons again watching. The hen with the 14 however has all the markings of the one from yesterday, so I'm not sure which is which. The hen with the 14 was more aggressive with the ducklings in the water, often pecking at individuals. Yet I was surprised how far she'd let them float away at times, sometimes 3 or more feet away on each side. At one point a heron made a couple of attempts at grabbing a duckling, but the hen scared it off just in the nick of time. In fact it seems that if the herons were more assertive and less skittish, they could pick off the majority of ducklings one by one. I don't see how a hen with a large flock could fight off determined predator birds.

So after an hour or so of separation, the hen with 6 on the island led them back in the water, where they soon joined the hen with 14. They swam off to the opposite shore again as a group of 2 hens and 20 ducklings, prompting my post. Is it unusual for duck hens to work together in leading their ducklings around? Do they sometimes take turns looking after the group so the other hen can wander off? Is it possible that this morning one hen was looking after a combined flock and the other hen swam off with a single straggler duckling following her (the one the heron soon ate?)

Thanks for any replies.

To answer your first question, the survival rate of ducklings can vary quite a bit across locations and species but is generally low. I don't have any numbers off the top of my head, but there are tons of studies out there looking at exactly that question. In nature there is often a trade-off between number of offspring produced and how likely each individual offspring is to survive to adulthood- in general, any given duckling in a large brood of 10-16 is less likely to survive than, say, a single albatross chick. However, even in small broods mortality can be quite high, and this is often the biggest factor limiting population growth of a species. When I was studying king rails for my master's degree, I often saw very young broods consisting of 6-8 chicks (larger clutches are reported in the literature), but broods a few weeks older typically contained only 1-3 chicks. Eventually I'd stop seeing them all together, but could never tell if they all died or just dispersed.

As for your second question... I have no idea, but that's an interesting observation! I would suspect that semi-domestic birds don't display representative wild behaviors, but who knows...

I'd have thought that the survival rate of duckings is very small given that ducks lay a large clutch, live several years, only need on average one offspring to mate with another from elsewhere to perpetuate the species, otherwise we'd be chest-deep in ducks.

Ducks exist as food, much as do the organisms they in turn prey upon.

Thanks for the replies. As I type there are 3 Muscovy hens sailing past my window with about a dozen ducklings in their cooperative flotilla.

Friday evening the Night Herons were back, and 3 of them were surrounding a hen from about 3 feet for hours. Saturday the herons were gone for most of the day, and hens and ducklings were out and about more. Counted 2 sets of 10 and one of what appeared to be six. At one point there was again what looked to be a combined flock of 10 ducklings and 2 hens swimming, but it may have just been a mom and a tag-along female. I'm starting to wonder if the tag-along is the hen who lost all her ducklings a few days ago. The lead hen/mom would occasionally give a chase move to the other female while on land, but most of the time would let her intermingle. Sometimes tag-along would just follow at a distance, but more often they would circle around the ducklings and ever now and then the second would lead a bit, both on the water and on land.

So just now I saw 3 hens on a combined swim. At one point the lead mom appeared to try to run off one, but didn't the other. Not sure if that indicates an unwanted tag-along or just asserting that she is the leader, the 'alpha mom' if you will. Interesting that when 2 Night Herons returned and made a dive at the ducklings, only the lead mom bowed up to scare them off. Yet several times she's let 2 of the ducklings trail behind and veer off with another hen, as far as 40 feet, so it does suggest that there are at least 2 mom's letting their flocks swim together, for whatever reason.

Some kinds of duck are well-known for 'pooling' their broods into what are called 'crèches' and having several adult females look after them: European examples are Eider and Shelduck. Don't know anything about Muscovies but these are interesting observations.

I know this is an old thread, but I found it fascinating. I do notice that when a lot of ducklings hatch at once, broods of the same age often get mixed up and sometimes a mother duck will end up with more (or less) ducklings that she had before.

I don't know the survival rate, but I do agree that it depends on the location and the number of predators. I would have to say that if you count from egg to fully-fledged that most ducklings will not survive the first five weeks with most of those dying before hatching to the first week. Ducklings that have made it past the first two to three weeks have pretty good odds to making it to fledging.

I don't know how others birders feel about doing this, but if you are concerned that the herons are coming to steal the chicks, I'd go stand out there by the pond when you see one and it will scare the big birds away. I know that when I am observing waterfowl and I even get within five feet of a heron or egret he takes off. Or if they're persistant little pests put something out there that will keep the egrets away.

I'm all for helping out mothers, especially young waterfowl moms who don't know what do and it sounds to me like you may have a couple of first time parents there.

It's my experience that most texts written about waterfowl behavior is wrong. Each animal is an individual and reacts differently according to his/her God given gifts.

Now's the time to watch over your brood. Most waterfowl will be grown up within one month...so you have one month to be their guardian.
Good luck and keep us posted.

mothergooz said:

I don't know how others birders feel about doing this, but if you are concerned that the herons are coming to steal the chicks, I'd go stand out there by the pond when you see one and it will scare the big birds away. I know that when I am observing waterfowl and I even get within five feet of a heron or egret he takes off. Or if they're persistant little pests put something out there that will keep the egrets away.

I'm all for helping out mothers, especially young waterfowl moms who don't know what do and it sounds to me like you may have a couple of first time parents there.

It's my experience that most texts written about waterfowl behavior is wrong. Each animal is an individual and reacts differently according to his/her God given gifts.

Now's the time to watch over your brood. Most waterfowl will be grown up within one month...so you have one month to be their guardian.
Good luck and keep us posted.

Click to expand...

....and in doing so deprive the "heron moms" of a meal increasing the chances that their young will die in the nest.

OK, that sounds extreme, but is possible - though herons are quite efficient and can put up with a bit of disturbance, but the only reason that wildfowl have so many young is that most of them are expected to end up in the food chain. For a population of ducks to remain level, each bird must raise just one young to reproduction age before it dies. The best thing to do is leave alone and observe nature as it is from a distance.

I agree with what Nickderry said in a lot of ways. I know for me, I love "my" wild ducklings and will watch over and protect them when I can. But, I know that I can't be there 24 hours a day and watch over every thing and every one. They could get snapped up by a fish or a turtle in a second while I stand on the shore chasing the hawks and herons away. That's why God gave ducks the ability to have more than a dozen babies, he knows that most of them are going to be food and a lot of other animals rely on this source of food. I hate that this happens to the little adorable little fuzzballs, but it's reality.

If I really want to make sure some ducklings make it to adulthood, I would have to buy my own at the farm store and raise them in a secure location. Not feasible in a city apartment.

In my case I often wonder what the survival rate is for eggs! We built manmade duck nests geared towards Mallards and Wood Ducks. The Mallards nest in a horizontal mesh cylinder stuffed with hay mounted on a pole way above the water in our marshes and ponds. The wood ducks get a plastic cylinder that's vertical. We've never had trouble getting tenants, haha. But usually there will be one or two eggs out of say, six that never hatched.

Then the wood ducks had trouble. After years of 100% hatch rates, we started to see ducklings left behind (we'd find them in the winter when cleaning out the nests). Sometimes two, sometimes as many as ten. It was heartbreaking.

This year the Mallards did well which is nice considering our Canada Geese got completely demolished. Seven nests. All destroyed. Plus a few unknown duck and turkey nests that i never found. I despise finding large eggshells stuffed with feathers and tiny bones in the woods. Without doubt this was the worst year for birds on our property yet. We've noticed an increase in the racoon population which has not helped one bit.

Have just spent some time watching new duck families on an island in the St. Lawrence and noticed the duck families in the bay near my cottage grow from 6 to 17! The day I saw 17 ducklings out for a swim with one parent, a short time later I noticed three other adults emerge from the cove and fly off in another direction. I wondered: was one parent baby-sitting several families while the other adults were on a break? I saw this old thread and thought maybe there was newer information. I think the ducks were mallards or marsh ducks of some kind. I'm not a bird expert.

Generally speaking, ducks are only guardians to the ducklings, doing nothing more than leading youngsters to food sources and away from danger. Drakes of most species have nothing to do with looking after the brood and they can be a danger by hassling a duck with newly hatched ducklings (I watched this recently with mallards). I suspect that the lack of investment in looking after the ducklings means that the ducks often do not distinguish if they acquire extra ducklings from other broods although it is not much of a leap in behaviour to deliberately forming creches. In addition, I have observed circumstances where a more dominant duck may have 'stolen' young from another brood when the two families got mixed up during feeding. In a sense, this is not stealing as in kidnapping (seen in dolphins and elephants) but more a reflection of the fact that ducks probably cannot count given the size of the broods before predation.

Ovenbird is quite right that survival rates vary depending on the habitat. On my local patch - mortality is quite high on the main reservoir but low on the nearby canal despite the presence of mink and foxes. The main predators seem to be gulls and (possibly) large pike) with grey herons seemingly less important although they undoubtedly do take ducklings.