I took the plunge!!

Congratulations on the ducklings! You and your daughter are going to love them. : )

Ducklings need to be kept at 95 F for the first week, and then you decrease the temperature 5 degrees each week until they are fully feathered and can be moved outside.

I like to raise my ducklings on wire personally, because they are so messy. Right now I have a cage set up with hay that is right near the light, then I have their food and water on wire so they do not get their bedding wet. I also have a metal tray underneath the brooder that is filled full of hay that catches all the spilled water and food. The ducklings are outside being played with most of the day so they get plenty of bugs, grass, and other goodies from our garden and yard during the day. We also like to give them a shallow bowl of water to splash around in. However, usually they just want to follow you around the yard.

My grown ducks have an inside pen on wire, and then an outside run with a kitty pool for a 'pond'. I would free range them, but my two Calls will fly off and I do not want to loose them. However, if you have larger ducks you will be able to let them roam around. Inky, my Magpie drake is very sweet and I can let him loose and he will not run off and is very easy to catch.

I hope I have answered some of your questions. Have fun with those cutie patooties and post some pictures for us!

~ Aspen

Welcome to Duckdom!

There are so many good discussions about starting out, I found one I hope you will enjoy reading.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/622321/new-to-ducks-advice-3-day-babys

Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks and The Ultimate Pet Duck Guidebook are my favorite books for good advice on caring for ducklings.

They need to be able to wash their heads frequently to avoid eye, sinus and ear infections.  But they need to be supervised when bathing/swimming.  Swim water needs to be around 90F the first few weeks, and they need to dry off quickly, and avoid drafts.

Water management seems to trip most people up.  Ducklings cannot help it, they splash.  Setting up a nice watering station is not that hard, you need something to catch the splash and keep it mostly off their bedding.

Ducklings grow very rapidly!  They need water with their food to prevent choking, they need three times the niacin that chicks do.

There's more, but I need to go work with my little flock now.  Please try searching the forum archives. 

Again, Welcome, please keep us updated, ask as many questions as you can think of, and upload photo's if you can!

Heres more reading that will give good info along with what Amiga has given... Yes welcome and post pics when you get a chance..

http://feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKRaisingDucklings.html