Created a water saver for my duck brooder

[CelticGoose]

I love this!! Thank you so much for posting!

 

[Newbee58]

Great idea, I have been complaining for the last couple of days, to the ducks of course for making a mess. Seems as I'm changing wet shavings 3 & 4 times a day. It's such a waste of bedding, so I've been drying it in the sun and reusing ( I pick out any waste before reusing).

I'm going into town today and will pick up supplies. I have a small dog play yard I use when I put them out doors for unsupervised play time. (Don't have to worry about them running off) I'll bring that into garage and put some kind of padding down then place everything in it. My house is too small to have them indoors. When i get everything finished will try to post pictures.

We have been trying to build a coop for several weeks, but due to rains haven't accomplished much. Poor chickens are in a small store bought coop that's too small for all of them. Will probably have to buy another one and another dog yard and break into two groups but keep the area where they are outside together, if it keeps raining. The weather is so unusual this year.

Even my garden is struggling with the temp changes. First it's cold and rainy, then we'll have nice warm sunny week, then it's back to cold and rainy. Less than a month ago we had snow and it killed all my seedlings.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Going to get one now

 

[LorelloFarms]

This is so genius!! I cannot wait to do this! The nasty mess they make with the water is one of my only complaints about my new ducklings!!

 

[JustDuckyx3]

I got these plastic cocktail glasses at the dollar store. They have removable bottoms, I have a disposable tray with a cookie cooling rack on top, so what I did was put the bottom under the wire rack and attach the stem through the top. This way they are unable to knock them over, climb into them, and most importantly poop in them. They Love them because they can submerge their whole head.

 

[Yoles32]

I used the same idea as the original poster of this thread, but instead of a drawer I used a shallow plastic storage bin. I built a ramp up to it using shavings. The have no problem using it and they are only four days old. I used coated hardware cloth for the screen. Found that on Amazon.

 

[ErockRPh]

Man, I wish I found this thread a month ago! My ducks should be ready to move outside for the night in a few more days, but it's not soon enough! I love them, but hate the smell. My only concern with this idea, is that they tend to dabble their beaks and do a little motorboat thing, spraying water all over. In addition, they're messy eaters. The smell that really gets me is the wet food. I wonder if this rig helps with the wet food all over, or if that's still an issue.

I will definitely be trying this out next time I have ducklings.

 

[1Hanna1]

Love this idea. I'm using a paint try I made a top for in my brooder right now but when they grow I will most likely switch to this idea.

 

[Bridger Davis]

So, everyone that owns ducks KNOWS how much they splash and waste water. It's especially bad when you have to brood the ducks in the house and are subject to cleaning the brooder daily just to keep the smell down! I did some hunting at walmart and found the perfect solution to keeping water from saturating the pine shavings within minutes of filling the water dish. Thought ya'll might like to see what I did. (I have seen something of the sort for outside pens - but it'll work for inside as well!)



I found these modular drawers at Walmart for $12. They are designed to support weight, so I knew they would support the water and a duck or two. The drawer pops out, so it'll be easy to remove to empty out the water.

First I cut a hole in the top using a hand jigsaw, then staple gunned on some hardware cloth to the top: (I put duck tape around the edges just so the hardware cloth edges weren't as sharp).



Finished product in use: It's been day 3 and working GREAT!!! No more smell in the room and dry shavings!!

This is awesome... But how old would they have to be to be able to reach the water?

 

[Clairendipitylee]

That's great! We did something similar, where I put a cookie cooling rack on top of a large, shallow tupperware and used large rubber bands to hold it in place. So much easier to keep them clean, right!?! I love ducklings, but, man, they are messy!