moving the ducklings outside....

[TriskeleFarm]

My ducklings are 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 weeks old, 2 Pekins, a Welsh Harlequin, a Rouen and a Runner. They have outgrown their indoor cage and I've prepped an old dog run outside with a small kidie pool. They have spent the last 3 days out there all day.

I'm in CEntral Arizona (Phoenix Area). nighttime temps are currently in the low 50s. There is no heat source out there, but they do have a plastic box with hay in it that they can get under cover and nestle into.

Will this set up work? can they stay outside at night now? The Pekins and Welsh are the oldest, and largest by FAR. The Rouen and the Runner are smaller. They're better swimmers, but I worry a little about them getting cold at night, even if they cuddle with the Pekins.

 

[DuckyDonna]

My ducklings are 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 weeks old, 2 Pekins, a Welsh Harlequin, a Rouen and a Runner. They have outgrown their indoor cage and I've prepped an old dog run outside with a small kidie pool. They have spent the last 3 days out there all day.

I'm in CEntral Arizona (Phoenix Area). nighttime temps are currently in the low 50s. There is no heat source out there, but they do have a plastic box with hay in it that they can get under cover and nestle into.

Will this set up work? can they stay outside at night now? The Pekins and Welsh are the oldest, and largest by FAR. The Rouen and the Runner are smaller. They're better swimmers, but I worry a little about them getting cold at night, even if they cuddle with the Pekins.

Be sure to watch the temperature. They are awfully young to not have some kind of heat source if the temps should drop. Do they have a coop? You said they have a plastic box to snuggle in but what exactly does that mean? A box with no door? You have lots of predators out there too that can easily get into a dog run like snakes, flying predators and who knows what else.

Also if they are swimming they could get waterlogged and get a bad chill. They don't have any waterproofing at this age so I wouldn't let them have pool privileges unless you are with them and can supervise the time they are getting wet. They could drown as they have no waterproofing on them yet.

 

[Isaac 0]

Fifty degrees is too low for a duckling that age.

 

[Slash3]

I would also agree that is to cold for that age. Mine were pretty much fully feathered before I let them live outside.

 

[TomCahalan]

https://extension2.missouri.edu/g8920
I would give them 3 more weeks

 

[chickens really]

I'm in Alberta and Ducklings that age can be outside in a bed of straw in a house. I just lock mine in and let them out in the morning. That temp isn't cold...Or bring them in at night?

 

[Isaac 0]

I'm in Alberta and Ducklings that age can be outside in a bed of straw in a house. I just lock mine in and let them out in the morning. That temp isn't cold...Or bring them in at night?

They would probably live through 50F temps, but why make them suffer?

 

[chickens really]

They would probably live through 50F temps, but why make them suffer?

Suffer? Truly mine never suffer..

 

[Isaac 0]

Suffer? Truly mine never suffer..

Well, I just brought my two-week-old ducklings a few days ago and they started shivering and it was around 50 degrees, without a heat source keeping ducklings in those temps can be possibly fatal, especially if they get wet. I'm not saying it can't be done, but in the wild, a mother would be proving some heat at that age, in those temps.

 

[Miss Lydia]