Fairly new to ducks...questions!

I have a trio of call ducks that are now 21 days old. I have never raised ducks from ducklings so I have a few questions. Sorry if they're kinda silly.

1. Do ducks pant like a dog? I've had them in their enclosure after swimming and seen them with their mouths open like they are panting. Does that mean they are too hot?

2. When is a good age to put them with the chickens, or should I? We have everything from Belgian Quails to RIR.

3. When can I start feeding them more solid food like corn or something similar? When can they chew?

4. We don't live too close to water, but I have been letting them swim in a plastic storage box and they love it. Eventually we will have an in-ground "pond" for them, but for now how often is it required for them to swim?

Any other advice is greatly appreciated!!

Keyt (Kate)

1. Do ducks pant like a dog? I've had them in their enclosure after swimming and seen them with their mouths open like they are panting. Does that mean they are too hot?

Yes, that means they are hot.

2. When is a good age to put them with the chickens, or should I? We have everything from Belgian Quails to RIR.

I moved mine when they were... oh... 7 weeks? It's fine to put them with other poultry.

3. When can I start feeding them more solid food like corn or something similar? When can they chew?

Around 5 weeks or so, I think....

4. We don't live too close to water, but I have been letting them swim in a plastic storage box and they love it. Eventually we will have an in-ground "pond" for them, but for now how often is it required for them to swim?


You mean like a rubbermaid? How are they getting in that thing? Swimming isn't nessacary, but it makes them a lot happier. I have one of those hard, plastic kiddie wading pools for my 2, and they love it.

Yes, like a Rubbermaid. I take them from their enclosure (another big Rubbermaid) and put them in the "pool". They will dive and go crazy, but only for about 10 minutes then they just sit still on the rocks. So I then take them out, put them back in their enclosure and they eat like maniacs!

So, if they pant like that, does that mean I no longer need to leave the light on? I have them on our enclosed porch and it doesn't get too cold, maybe a little. I just don't want them to be too cold. I'm a typical mama I guess, I worry! lol

I also forgot to ask if human baby food is ok?

i raised mine with baby chicks fed them all the same stuff and let them out free at the same time

I'm debating letting mine run free eventually. We live kinda close to a road so that worries me! They need to be able to run around soon, just not sure about putting them with the chickens since there are several roosters!

Just be sure that you keep that pond free of turtles. They'll be fine without a big swimming area. I've seen people use those plastic pools for years for their ducks and the ducks were perfectly happy.

Do you have a "cool" area that they ducklings can go to in case they get hot? That might help. I would keep the light on, but have a cooler area nearby that they can go to if they need to.

I've actually never seen a duck panting, they all go into the water when they're hot or sit in the shade.

1. Do ducks pant like a dog? I've had them in their enclosure after swimming and seen them with their mouths open like they are panting. Does that mean they are too hot?

Yes. When they pant they are hot. My ducks pant sometimes throughout the day. If they get too hot they move to the shade or get in the pool. Make sure they have plenty of nice cool drinking water and shade.

2. When is a good age to put them with the chickens, or should I? We have everything from Belgian Quails to RIR.

That I don't know except for what I've read.. I don't have any other fowl, just ducks. I think most people would say 6 to 8 weeks. But don't quote me on that.

3. When can I start feeding them more solid food like corn or something similar? When can they chew?

I wouldn't feed too much corn, it makes em fat. ( I learned the hard way, my appleyards are on a diet because I fed them too much corn. Corn is good in winter, bad bad bad in summer) I feed mine starter crumble for the 1st 4 to 6 weeks and then move to the grower crumble or pellets thereafter and offer oyster shell once they start laying (for the calcium). I start feeding solid treats like peas and melon at 4 weeks. But you can give them mushed up peas and stuff from week one.

4. We don't live too close to water, but I have been letting them swim in a plastic storage box and they love it. Eventually we will have an in-ground "pond" for them, but for now how often is it required for them to swim?

Just get one of the cheapy hard plastic baby pools like you can buy at any lawn and garden center. (I get mine from the lawn and garden center in Walmart) I have a few of them and mine have access to them all day and swim A lot.

Any other advice is greatly appreciated!!

Keyt (Kate)

Be careful. Ducks can become an addiction. I started with 3 and now have 2 dozen. Ohhhh and one of the best pieces of advice I got here... when you clean their pools,use all that gross nasty disgusting water to water your gardens. Your plants will be amazing.

~Candace

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Mine have plenty of water for sure! Believe it or not, I can't find one of those pools anywhere! Really soon my bf is going to do an in-ground thing for them so that will help.

Yes, this duck thing is becoming addicting. My bf is worried, but I promised him 1-2 cayugas and that's it lol.

I heard about the duck water thing, but what kind of plants are you talking about? We have a vegetable garden, herb garden and many flowers, bushes and ornamental trees lol

If you go to a hardware store and ask for a kiddie pool they usually have one hidden. They seem to only have them out in the spring but order a ton one year and just save them for years afterward. I just got one from our hardware store after searching the bigger stores and having no luck.

Try Walmart in the storage section they sell long and short sided Tupperware containers. I just got 4 kahki Campbell's duckilings and I'm using a 9x13 baking dish for them to swim in.