1 week old Indian runners brooder

[chickenz101]

My two 1 week old Indian runner ducklings are growing fast and make mess very quick! They are in a large storage box, it's the biggest one I can find and don't know what else I can use as a brooder? I need something bigger!!!!!!!!

 

[dumb_cluck]

Can you get your hands on some LARGE shipping boxes? If one gets too messy, swap it out for another. Just be careful... if you are using a heat lamp because the boxes are flammable.

Other than that, can someone make you a "box" out of scrap plywood?

Better start planning now for future growth. They will grow faster than you can imagine!

 

[TLWR]

I brooded 3 runners last year in a xlarge wire dog kennel. Think great dane sized - as that's what my dane uses now lol

 

[Mike Winters]

i bet the dane is happy the ducks moved out. ya a big crate will do

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Big xtra lage dog crates work great, I even too a piece of siding and screwed it across the fromt inside the crate to keep the shavings from falling out.

 

[Amiga]

I invested in a puppy pen. eight 2' wide panels of coated wire. I put reinforced hardware cloth across the top (with zip ties) and set the heat lamps on that. Used 6 mil plastic underneath and up the sides, with towels for bedding (my allergies - otherwise would have switched sooner to shavings).

The puppy pen served as an emergency shelter in the basement until I built a more permanent indoor pen.

If you or a friend are handy, building a rectangular box frame and then using hardware cloth on the bottom (covered with a towel or no-skid soft mesh) and plastic poultry fence or hardware cloth for the sides could work. That's what I plan to build for my next batch of babies. I like the idea of putting it up on legs as well, for ease of access and avoiding the "looming human" issue when they hit three weeks of age.

Do you have pics of your babies?

 

[farmdude]

I use an old livestock watering tank. A friend uses a kiddy pool.

 

[TLWR]

Quote:
THat wasn't the reason behind why I did it, but mostly ease of use for me. Easier to clean at hip height and I was able to just sit out with them and well, they still had a huge head at the kennel door.
At about 5 weeks or so (I think), I put the kennel on the deck instead of up on the saw horses I had them on. They were well into stranger danger and it was just easier to let
them put themselves to bed than having to chase them down, pick them up and then put them back up in their kennel.

I also had cardboard lining the bottom sides of the kennel so they couldn't get out and then house wrap around it to keep any weather/wind from getting in (I brooded them on my patio)

 

[chickenz101]

Thanks for the replies, will try and upload some pics!