Let me start by saying I LOVE my ducks. Ducks are full of personality and fun to watch. They are much more social than chickens and other farm type animals. But the first 6 weeks with ducks were a bit of a rough go.
I had just got done raising 12 hens and 2 rooster to the point where they could now live outside in a coop full time. The 1st few weeks with chickens seemed hard, but once I put them outside they were easy peasy- make sure they have food and water and clean their coop and that was about it for the most part. I now considered myself "old hat" at raising fowl and set my sights on ducks.
My intention with ducks was to get like 4 birds. But my sister & husband decided to surprise me and 16 showed up in the mail! They were so cute though, I didn't mind and quickly got excited.
Little did I know- two things that are VERY different about ducks. 1st- they grow a lot quicker than chickens! My brooder cage that lasted me about 2.5 weeks with chickens, my ducks outgrew in less than a week. I then changed to a plastic storage tub/tote for another week or two. After the 1st week, I had to build them a temporary run outdoors, where I put them during the day when it was warm enough( I live in Florida) and only kept them inside at night as by then the smell was getting really bad (more on this later). I had a tragedy during this where one of the ducks was killed due to being crushed (more on that later). So- my husband fashioned a separate bedding area to fit inside the tub (pictured below). By just under 4 weeks, they outgrew this as well. I was desperate, but being told they couldn't live without access to the heat lamp as of yet. I had a old, large sink cabinet I then put on my covered porch (took out sink & plumbing and added chicken wiring to the holes involved). AT least here they would be protected from the rain and wind and have their heat lamp. I covered the wired parts with blankets at night to retain heat. This also was a smelly mess, and hard to clean. At 6 weeks I had enough of this and moved my flock to the coop, even though conventional wisdom says to wait until they are 8 weeks or fully feathered. Living in Florida where it doesn't get all that cold and having 15 birds helped. They snuggled together at night and seemed fine otherwise. I did have a night or two I put them in the coop itself at night.
The 2nd thing that is different with ducks is they are VERY smelly and messy. Ducks enjoy mucking about with their water (ducks can actually choke on feed without having sips of water while eating) and enjoy dipping their bills in water. They go back and forth between water and food, thoroughly mucking up both. They also poop more than chickens The result is a constant mess and smell when they are small. While having the chickens inside, it was sufficient to clean the enclosure 1-2x a day. With ducks it was more like 8-10x/day! You can find tons of ingenious solutions on the threads for reducing this mess. One night while I slept, the ducks managed to spill the water and saturate the bedding. They piled in the food dish to escape the water, and sadly one got crushed. After this is when we came up with having the bedding area on a pedestal away from the water area.
Since having my flock out in their coop/run , things have gotten easier. But I do have to clean out their coop and water, much more than my chickens. They now get daily visits to the pond and love to swim and muck about in the field nearby. So that helps a lot. They are quite a joy to watch and each has their own personality. Just know going in that ducks are pretty much a full time job for the first month or two.
I had just got done raising 12 hens and 2 rooster to the point where they could now live outside in a coop full time. The 1st few weeks with chickens seemed hard, but once I put them outside they were easy peasy- make sure they have food and water and clean their coop and that was about it for the most part. I now considered myself "old hat" at raising fowl and set my sights on ducks.
My intention with ducks was to get like 4 birds. But my sister & husband decided to surprise me and 16 showed up in the mail! They were so cute though, I didn't mind and quickly got excited.
Little did I know- two things that are VERY different about ducks. 1st- they grow a lot quicker than chickens! My brooder cage that lasted me about 2.5 weeks with chickens, my ducks outgrew in less than a week. I then changed to a plastic storage tub/tote for another week or two. After the 1st week, I had to build them a temporary run outdoors, where I put them during the day when it was warm enough( I live in Florida) and only kept them inside at night as by then the smell was getting really bad (more on this later). I had a tragedy during this where one of the ducks was killed due to being crushed (more on that later). So- my husband fashioned a separate bedding area to fit inside the tub (pictured below). By just under 4 weeks, they outgrew this as well. I was desperate, but being told they couldn't live without access to the heat lamp as of yet. I had a old, large sink cabinet I then put on my covered porch (took out sink & plumbing and added chicken wiring to the holes involved). AT least here they would be protected from the rain and wind and have their heat lamp. I covered the wired parts with blankets at night to retain heat. This also was a smelly mess, and hard to clean. At 6 weeks I had enough of this and moved my flock to the coop, even though conventional wisdom says to wait until they are 8 weeks or fully feathered. Living in Florida where it doesn't get all that cold and having 15 birds helped. They snuggled together at night and seemed fine otherwise. I did have a night or two I put them in the coop itself at night.
The 2nd thing that is different with ducks is they are VERY smelly and messy. Ducks enjoy mucking about with their water (ducks can actually choke on feed without having sips of water while eating) and enjoy dipping their bills in water. They go back and forth between water and food, thoroughly mucking up both. They also poop more than chickens The result is a constant mess and smell when they are small. While having the chickens inside, it was sufficient to clean the enclosure 1-2x a day. With ducks it was more like 8-10x/day! You can find tons of ingenious solutions on the threads for reducing this mess. One night while I slept, the ducks managed to spill the water and saturate the bedding. They piled in the food dish to escape the water, and sadly one got crushed. After this is when we came up with having the bedding area on a pedestal away from the water area.
Since having my flock out in their coop/run , things have gotten easier. But I do have to clean out their coop and water, much more than my chickens. They now get daily visits to the pond and love to swim and muck about in the field nearby. So that helps a lot. They are quite a joy to watch and each has their own personality. Just know going in that ducks are pretty much a full time job for the first month or two.
