Wetness is one of the biggest mental and physical challenges of brooding ducklings, I think. I have spent quite a bit of both kinds of energy managing. And, I am managing.
A word of caution - if you just keep adding shavings to wet, packed-down bedding, you are likely to start getting ammonia,
which is very unhealthy. It will depend on the number of ducklings, the amount of water, and the temperature, but in about three days I found that I was beginning to get ammonia production on shavings that were not fluffed frequently and changed out regularly.
Right now we are on towels because 1) I have them 2) I am allergic to pine shavings 3) hardwood shavings produce so much dust that the ducklings and I cough and sneeze, and the room the brooder is in was getting coated with dust (yet another item on the cleanup list when we get them outdoors in their own abode).
The towels are changed out three or four times a day. Yup. I have eleven runners in 16 sf of brooder. They leave the brooder when I clean up, go into the hall, hang out for a bit while their charwoman gathers up old bedding, wipes things down, and lays down a nice fresh layer of clean dry towels, etc.
Some people (check this out to be sure, this is based on memory) add diatomaceous earth to the bedding. I think there is another product some use also.
I have used a two-piece broiler pan, steel mixing bowl with turned-over plastic perforated ricotta tub, and now a shallow rubber bucket with overturned (clean) cat-food cans under the (3 gallon) waterer to catch most of the splash. Now the ducklings are old enough, at seven weeks, to go overnight (from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.) without food and water (no food without water, remember
) Storey's Guide recommends no more than 8 to 10 hours overnight without water, and only once they are several weeks (I take that to mean more than 6) old.
I tried puppy pads, but they were overwhelmed rapidly.
I find if I have a gap in the bedding, that the water does not wick as much throughout the brooder.
One idea I had, but have not had time to implement, is building a very small platform - a wooden frame - with half inch hardware cloth on the top, and plastic poultry fence or other softer mesh material on top of that for them to sit up on, away from most of the moisture.
But I realized that by the time I built it, they would be just about ready to go outside (we are waiting for the night time temperatures to stay closer to 50) and so I will spend the time making more frequent bedding changes and doing their laundry.
It is a good exercise in patience and persistence.
A word of caution - if you just keep adding shavings to wet, packed-down bedding, you are likely to start getting ammonia,

Right now we are on towels because 1) I have them 2) I am allergic to pine shavings 3) hardwood shavings produce so much dust that the ducklings and I cough and sneeze, and the room the brooder is in was getting coated with dust (yet another item on the cleanup list when we get them outdoors in their own abode).
The towels are changed out three or four times a day. Yup. I have eleven runners in 16 sf of brooder. They leave the brooder when I clean up, go into the hall, hang out for a bit while their charwoman gathers up old bedding, wipes things down, and lays down a nice fresh layer of clean dry towels, etc.
Some people (check this out to be sure, this is based on memory) add diatomaceous earth to the bedding. I think there is another product some use also.
I have used a two-piece broiler pan, steel mixing bowl with turned-over plastic perforated ricotta tub, and now a shallow rubber bucket with overturned (clean) cat-food cans under the (3 gallon) waterer to catch most of the splash. Now the ducklings are old enough, at seven weeks, to go overnight (from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.) without food and water (no food without water, remember

I tried puppy pads, but they were overwhelmed rapidly.
I find if I have a gap in the bedding, that the water does not wick as much throughout the brooder.
One idea I had, but have not had time to implement, is building a very small platform - a wooden frame - with half inch hardware cloth on the top, and plastic poultry fence or other softer mesh material on top of that for them to sit up on, away from most of the moisture.
But I realized that by the time I built it, they would be just about ready to go outside (we are waiting for the night time temperatures to stay closer to 50) and so I will spend the time making more frequent bedding changes and doing their laundry.
It is a good exercise in patience and persistence.
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