Any way to keep ducklings from being so messy??

[RichnSteph]

We've got three ducklings (Cayuga or Mallards we think) in the brooder with our latest batch of chicks and they are a MESS! They fling food, take a beak full of it and head to the water dish to drink while they eat, in and out of the water dish (it's a dog dish so they can dunk their heads and swim a bit) back to the feeder tracking water every where.

Everything is wet... the bedding, the feed, the ducks... all of it. Is there any possible way to keep them a tad bit cleaner or is this the norm until they head outside? Heck I don't even know when I can put them out other than "when they are as big as your mature duck" which is probably months away.


HELP!

 

[1muttsfan]

Ducklings and chicks, as you have found, do not brood well together. You really need to move your chicks to a separate brooder. In the past I have used puppy pads for ducks, as they at least soak up some of the water they spill.

 

[RichnSteph]

Thank you for the advice. Right now we don't have room for another brooder in the house so as soon as the chicks are outside (they are weeks older than the ducks) I'll do something about keeping the brooder cleaner while the ducks mature. This is the last time I do ducklings like this.

 

[DucksnDaffodils]

I don't know if I can explain this without photos, but I saw an idea on here and have used it for ducklings for the past few years. It works GREAT. You take a pan (I used a black plastic 9x13 pan bought at the dollar store in the auto section) and then take some hardware cloth (1/4 inch I think) and form it to make a lid for the pan. Place the pan with it's hardware cloth "lid" in the brooder and put their food and water on it. That way all the spilled food and water fall into the pan, which you can take out and dump and clean regularly.

Hope that makes sense!! I'll try to find some photos!

 

[RichnSteph]

I don't know if I can explain this without photos, but I saw an idea on here and have used it for ducklings for the past few years. It works GREAT. You take a pan (I used a black plastic 9x13 pan bought at the dollar store in the auto section) and then take some hardware cloth (1/4 inch I think) and form it to make a lid for the pan. Place the pan with it's hardware cloth "lid" in the brooder and put their food and water on it. That way all the spilled food and water fall into the pan, which you can take out and dump and clean regularly.

Hope that makes sense!! I'll try to find some photos!

This sounds genius! Thank you, I'm going to say this is our best option, thank you! ~Steph

 

[seashoreduck]

Now that I have a washer I'm going to be using microfiber towels over a mesh screen. I lined the cage with them. There are $23 for 48 of them on amazon (Zwipes brand http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ANZHG7C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I figure that I will change them out twice a day or so...it takes 4 to line the whole brooder.

I'm adding some shredded newspaper for bedding but for 2 weeks hopefully this will keep them dry. They will be 2 days old when I get them.

 

[Amiga]

Please look at these


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/641902/created-a-water-saver-for-my-duck-brooder

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/679433/water-water-everywhere/10

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/858161/feed-water-solution-for-brooder#post_12901321

http://frankiemakes.blogspot.ca/2012/06/watering-solution-for-ducks.html

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/259876/do-your-ducks-have-water-at-night/10#post_13568197

post number 8 from this
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/959603/ducklings-getting-stuck-on-their-backs#post_14939819

 

[DucksnDaffodils]

The first link on the above post was where I originally got the idea from. I improvised because I didn't want to spend that much to buy one of those drawers. But that's the idea anyway..