24 hours post hatch to 5 days old, water question

[nao57]

So...duckling hatched.

I've been told they won't drink or eat the first 24 hours post hatch.

But after that in terms of how many times per day, how often do they need to drink during that first few days?

Once per hour water? once per 2 hours water? Once per 3 or 4 hours?

I'm trying to figure out the water setup.

And what got me worried about this is the quail people say quail chicks will day without constant water access their first few days of life, even just an hour or 2. (I am aware ducks and chickens are different from them.) But there's so many different rules for different fowl.

I'll see if I can get a pic later.

This is a blend of 2 sets of eggs. The one that hatched was the only survivor of the first group. (My incubator needed adjustments, and the China made incubator I ordered came without a US plug in > I ended up having to make one. There were setbacks. The second group of eggs was started 4 days later and so probably won't hatch for a few days.)

Thanks for advise on any comments on water and food the first 3 days of life thanks.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Give them a safe waterer after they are 12-24 hours old or as soon as they are walking well. They will drink as necessary. Add some glass marbles to prevent birds from falling in the waterer and drowning.

 

[nao57]

Give them a safe waterer after they are 12-24 hours old or as soon as they are walking well. They will drink as necessary. Add some glass marbles to prevent birds from falling in the waterer and drowning.

Thank you.

 

[nao57]

A new question popped up, so I'll just put it here.

Say you hatch a duckling or chick....and its trying to move around all over the place. Right now the others haven't hatched yet.

I'm wondering...is holding it in my cupped hands enough temperature to keep it warm enough to survive? I don't see anyone mention this. The humidity here is good, but I don't want to risk using my hands to cup hold it without making sure its an OK risk. It seems to also calm down a bit when I do it this way, but I haven't done it for long.

Its still less than a day since it hatched, and dry now. I think its also got more activity than normal because the membrane had turned dry leatherly (incubator hatch), so I had to help it, which means its got more energy than it should.