Adopt-a-duck: Hen hatches 6 mallards

The hen is very protective of the ducklings.
By NICOLE HUGHES
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
VIENNA -- Debate over which came first -- the chicken or the egg -- has been replaced with, "How did a hen hatch six ducklings?"
A hen hatched six eggs on the Dascenzo farm about two weeks ago, and she's the proud foster mom of six wild mallard ducklings.
"We had a wet spot by the barn from the spring," said Pam Dascenzo, who has been helping to care for the ducklings. "There was a mallard pair that kept flying in, but we didn't know they were nesting."
The nest was discovered accidentally.
"When my son was tedding hay, he hit the nest that the mother was sitting on and realized it on his second pass of the field," Dascenzo said. "He saw the duck and realized that there had to be a nest in the high grass."
Tedding hay is the process of moving the grass around so it will dry evenly.
There were eight eggs in the nest, but one was broken, she said.
"We were going to incubate them, but we had a hen that wanted to sit on eggs," Dascenzo said. "Six of the seven eggs hatched, and they all hatched in the same day."
Protects ducklings
The hen is very protective of the ducklings.
"The first four days, she had all the chickens backed up to the wall," Dascenzo said. "They weren't allowed near anything."
The ducklings don't separate much, and as they get older, they won't stay as close to the hen, she said.
"The hen clucks to the ducklings and has no idea that they aren't chickens," she said.
As the hen pecks and scratches the ground, the ducklings imitate her.
"They peck around, but I haven't seen them scratch yet," Dascenzo said.
The hen will lie in the bedding and dust her feathers, but the ducks want to swim, she said.
When the ducklings get bigger they will be able to leave the chicken coop.
"Since the ducks are wild they will be able to come and go," Dascenzo said. "We have a pond in the back that they will end up going to. When they mature it is whatever their instinct is."
Diverse farm
Also on the farm, the Dascenzos grow their own hay, oats and corn, and raise other animals.
"We have 36 chickens, a rooster, four dogs, 29 cows, eight cats, two horses, a goat and the six ducklings," she said. "We just had 13 calves this spring, and raise six pigs every year."
Pam Dascenzo, her husband, Richard Dascenzo, and their children Lena, 20, and Richard, 22, live on the 93-acre farm and take care of it themselves.
"Everybody thought we were crazy for doing this because my husband has his own business," Dutch Auto Body & amp; Paint Shop in Youngstown, she said. "It is work every day, but a lot of fun."
nhughes@vindy.com