A duck newbie with some questions

[agregg15]

Hi everyone my name is Aimee. I'm a duck newbie and my mom got 6 mallard ducklings about 2-3 weeks ago. They were kind of dumped on me though. They're doing fine except their brooder is getting a little cramped and it doesn't help that they're growing rather quickly (which I know any bird does.) I live New England and it's still kind of cold. My brother and I are going to start on their pen soon and I have a couple questions. My first question is in what temperature range can about 2.5 week old ducklings go outside (if they can at all.) My second question is how many square feet of space should their be for each duck. I read somewhere that it was 10 square feet per duck, but that doesn't seem like enough. My last question is if we should separate the drakes and hens during their mating season if we don't want to raise anymore ducklings that year and also for the sake of the females because from what I've read on previous sites it said that drakes can become rather pushy (poor hens.) Well thank you for your time and I hope to learn as much as I can about ducks. By the way they are starting to lose their down and prickly feathers are coming in (yay!)

I'll put a link to their pictures in ASAP.

 

[The Duck ABC's]

I would suggest 60-65 degrees at this age. Keep and eye on them and see what they do. If they huddle then they need it warmer. If they just play around then they are fine. Make sure they are protected from flying predators and other predators in general. Have a duck house for them to be locked up at night. That can be a wooden crate or a shed. Moving companies give crates away for free, so call them to save some money. Make sure they have some sort of light at night. I have a baby night light in my duck house, even for the adults. For outdoor the more space the better, and less of a mess. You should still build a small run for when you need them to be confined or if one is injured. I have a 10x20 small pen, a larger one that is one acre, and then 20 acres of meadow with pond. All fenced so I have plenty of choices. Don't separate the drakes from flock when you don't want babies. Have them sleep in a duck house and they will lay their eggs before 8am. All you have to do is collect daily and nothing will hatch. Duck eggs are tasty, we use them in our kitchen. Don't worry you will not find any ducklings in them, if you collect them daily and put them into the fridge. An egg needs 4 days at 100 degrees to start to develop. Before that you don't see a thing. Refrigerated eggs will never develop and can be stored for 30 days.

 

[agregg15]

Thanks that really helped. I have my door open to let some fresh air in and the ducklings are still acting fine (chasing each other

, jumping out of their brooder

, etc.) So hopefully once their pen is built I'll be able to put them outside. We might also get a black indies duck from one of my mom's friends, but the only worry there is that it might trample them. By the way the temperature at the moment is 55 Degrees F.