brooder questions

My ducklings & goslings are coming in May, and I'm trying to figure out what I need to have in my brooder.

Its going to be 4' wide X 10' long X 2' high, which should give everyone plenty of room.

How many waterers & feeders will I need?

I do have several clip on lights, like you get at the hardware store. How many would I need? I've heard that blue light bulbs are best.

Will I be ok with 1 thermometer, or do I need more than that?

I've had animals all my life, but this is my first time with baby birds.

As far as feeders/waterers that depends on the number of babies. I use one small one for every 10 birds until they are 6 weeks then they go outside with a big hanging waterer, same goes for the feeders. One thermometer and watch the chicks behavior. You'll know if they get too warm by seeing them panting, and too cool if you see them piling up under the light.

You are off to a great start! Hooray that you are thinking ahead.

My eleven runners are nearing five weeks old (gasp!) and here are a few things they have taught me:

-things work out better if I am not in a rush when I need to do something for them
-when I think of providing water, I must think of providing a way to minimize the splash wetting the bedding - this happened so much the first couple of days that I could not keep the brooder anywhere near dry, and the evaporation cooled the brooder by 10 degrees so I could not keep it at 90 F, the desired temperature for day old ducklings (I have written here on the duck forum about the ways I have reduced the splash greatly)
-surfaces that are easier to wipe down make cleanup easier
-my ducklings ate shavings, so they stayed on towels for four weeks
-I am allergic to pine shavings (learned that by direct experience)
-proper nutrition, constant supply of fresh water, clean warm brooder, regular bathtime (warm - 90 F - shallow and supervised closely) and a way to dip their heads seem to help them avoid eye and other health troubles (so far, anyway)
-duckling quality time is better than any therapy I know for boosting the optimism
-greens are the best thing ever
-the first two weeks new things seem much less scary than when they are three weeks old or older (may just be the runners)
-lullabies are calming, even when sung off key
-eyebrows look like food

Now, for what I figured out from multiple sources, and it works for me, and there is no one right way:

-ceramic heat bulbs are costly but work well and at night I can lower the lights and still keep them warm enough - they need ceramic fixtures - actually, I think any heat light might be safer in a ceramic fixture (it is what the seed and feed store carries as well)
-I used first one, then soon two quart sized waterers the first two weeks (at first I had four of my friend's birds also), then a gallon waterer the next two, and I just switched to a three gallon, because with eleven runners the water lasted three to four hours, and my sleep became important to me!
-I used two six inch diameter chick feeders for almost three weeks, then their bills were too large to get enough food so I switched to a ten inch diameter stainless steel salad bowl. They rarely knock it over, though sometimes someone will stand in it. YRMV
-when they were two weeks old, I started using a two foot, four inch wide galvanized feeder for salad, now have switched to a twelve inch by eighteen inch stainless steel cooking pan to serve salad (with a half inch of water - that seems to be like adding gravy to mashed potates)
-their first few swims were in that stainless steel cooking pan
-at about three weeks they started swimming in a 90 F tub, deep enough to come up just to the tops of their legs
-before they arrived, I set up the heaters and moved the thermometer around every few hours to get a feel for it
-Holderread in Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks writes that he sprinkles just a little chick sized grit on their food at first (no teeth - they need to chew with their crops)
-I suspend the light fixtures on half inch hardware cloth (if you are unfamiliar, it is like a large very heavy metal screen) FIRMLY attached at the top of the brooder. This allows me to move the lamps in any direction to adjust the heat


How many birds are you expecting? Do you know what kind of feed you will be offering them? Have you considered having gro-gel for the first week (it is a supplement) and vitamin electrolyte mix? What kind of bedding do you plan to use?

(I love seeing the terrific variety of ways people care for their ducks. It is inspiring.)

Thanks.

I'm getting 10 runner ducklings, 5 welsh harlequin ducklings, 1 female toulouse goose and 1 female african goose. The geese are shipping with gro-gel in with them, but I don't know if the ducklings will be given any.

I'm going to be starting them with Blue Seal chick n game bird starter/grower crumbles. Its non-medicated, and its the only thing I can get here. Other people who've used Blue Seal with their ducks seem to like it. I've heard good things about Purina, but I'd have to drive an hour and a half (3 hours round trip, at least) to get it. I'm planning on getting VMP poultry pac to put in their water, too.

The floor of the brooder is going to be hardware cloth, with absorbent bedding under that. We use wood pellets for our other animals, so I was going to put that in the brooder.

I was thinking of using something similar to this clipped on the wall of the brooder. http://www.tractorsupply.com/livest...quipment/brooder-reflector-with-clamp-3208291

The lamp looks great. The Blue Seal sounds good - I have no experience with it. I am using Nutrena Duck Grower right now, started with Agway Turkey/Waterfowl, first starter crumbles, then grower pellets. I found the Agway feed higher in protein than I wanted - 28% and 21% respectively, so I added one part rolled oats to 5 parts feed with the Agway. The Nutrena is 16%, so I have been slowly switching over. I give them vitamin electrolyte mix once a week and more if they have a really big day.

I don't know anything about the wood pellets. Do you think the ducklings would try to eat them? I tried twice, once at one week, once at two and a half weeks, to use shavings, but they ate (and I mean, really chowed down on) the shavings so I switched back to towels. At four weeks they nibbled a little but no longer tried to stuff themselves on the shavings, so we are in business there.

With my eleven runners, their brooder is now a 16 sf puppy playpen with 6 mil plastic lining the bottom and up about 4 to 8 inches on the sides. I have a three gallon waterer in there with them and a large stainless steel salad bowl with pellets. Surprisingly, they rarely tip the salad bowl over (I fill it to just over half way, and nestle it down in the shavings).

May you and your critters be blessed with good health.

Thanks, Amiga.

They won't be able to get to the wood pellets. The brooder is kind of going to be like a bird cage. The hardware cloth will be the floor they're on, and a few inches below that it'll be solid wood, and that's where the wood pellets will be.

Just trying to plan this out as well as I can.