Getting Ducks Help Please!

so im gonna get two ducks in a week or so! and i have only taken care of a 3 day old duck.. so im not a pro exactly.. but here are my questions!

1. Is a large box with old plushies and food and water with a nice clean cloth good? i cant buy a heat lamp but i have lots of time and lots of christmas lights left
2. what food should i buy?
3. when should they go outside? im planning on making them very tame
4. i have two 20cm kiddie pools can they swim in that while being able to dive?
5. how should i wash them?
6. when should they be shown to water?

extras there mallards and im getting them as 2 or 1 day old thats all!!

Thank you and have a nice day!

You're going go need a heat lamp. They need to be at 90°F for the first week. What are plushies? Stuffed animals? They need flooring like shelf liner, straw or shavings. They're likely to soak that cardboard box right through so be prepared to replace it in a day and a half.

They need duck starter food. Not chick starter ideally. If nighttime temps are in the 70's then they can go outside in 3 weeks. If you have a heat lamp then you can get them out in cooler weather.

They don't need swimming water, so the pools should be fine.

They should preen on their own, but if they start getting messy, they might just need some swim time.

Do you mean drinking water or swimming water?

First of all, even if you can't get a heat lamp, you still need a source of heat unless you can find another way to keep the temps up. Test the temperature of the brooder and make sure it's warm enough (about 85 degrees) When they get to be six weeks old, they don't need heat anymore since they've got their feathers then.

As for food, I gave mine chick starter when they were little with a niacin supplement. (Ducklings need more niacin than chicks do.) I have heard good things about Purina Flock Raiser, though. That's better than chick starter.

They can go outside when they are about six weeks old, since, as I mentioned before, their new feathers will be in by then.

Don't give them deep water until they get a bit older. They don't have the oil they need to swim at this age. When a mother duck raises them, she gives them oil. I have heard of people putting 2 day old ducklings in the water, but I waited until mine were a week old. Only give them a little bit of water to swim in at first.

Have fun with your ducklings!

What's the outside house set up?

Quote: 1 - you want something you can clean easily without it falling apart. Christmas lights don't really generate heat anymore, so won't do much. Do you have a lamp with a 75 or 100 Watt bulb? - if you can reflect that down to their brooder, that should be ok if brooding inside
2 - if you can't find a duck starter, a flock raiser or unmedicated chick starter will work
3 - depending on where you are or how you do your brooder, any time (if you can do something for heat) they can start outside. I don't brood ducks inside, they smell too much
4 - little ones can dive in the sink, so a small duck pool will be fine. Early swims for young ducklings should be a bit warmer and not too very long. Early swims will help their oil glands develop quicker. Don't leave young ducks along while in the water, they can tire and drown. Once they can reliably get in and out of their pool on their own, they should be ok to let them swim on their own
5 - you don't need to wash them, they will wash themselves
6 - I give ducklings a day to settle in and then get them a quick swim their 2nd day home