At what age can the ducklings move into their coop?

[tankerman]

I haven't gotten around to running electrical out to the coops yet.

There are some fairly safe looking infrared hanging heaters, but not until I've got proper electrical in pkace.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I haven't gotten around to running electrical out to the coops yet.

There are some fairly safe looking infrared hanging heaters, but not until I've got proper electrical in pkace.

Good idea, so ducklings stay inside for a while longer?

 

[chicks4fun]

I have five week old ducklings and they are a great deal of work!
This summer I lost a duck and gave my lone duck a half-dozen eggs to sit on, only one hatched. I ended up with a Pekin drake. This winter the female, also a Pekin, went broody. She sat on two eggs so I got half a dozen from a local duck breeder---hoping this time to get two ducklings.

All eight hatched! (This is at 4 weeks & their 1st day out but it was over 50 that day)


I had only expected two given the last hatch. I would never really wanted to raise this many ducklings in this weather.
So I am putting them out on any day above 45 but they have a shelter and two grown ducks with them. They don't seem cold and they get wet in the water bowls. They are partly feathered but not fully feathered. I simply have to get them outside.

Now that I have so many ducks I am wondering what I can build as a safe duck house?
You said you were going to keep them in a turkey pen? What do you need to do for safety? Will you lock them inside or is the pen secure enough? I am looking for knowledge too. I really hope I am not putting my babies out too soon.
Good luck!

 

[tankerman]

We've been pretty lucky to not have many losses to predators, our dogs do their job well. An owl did mangle two birds last year (took us a long time to figure out it was an owl). Mr. Owl was flying over our backyard right at sunset and catching straggler chickens on their way back to the coops.....chickens learned wuickly to get back to their coop a bit earlier.

Our turkey coop is pretty much a very small barn we built and fenced in.

We plan on sinking a round galvanized 6' stock tank in the ground to use as a small pond. Will attach a valve and hose to the drain so we can water our orchard with the dirty-duck-water.

 

[Dotshines]

I like your idea of using your duck water, to water your orchard. I don't have any ducks yet but would love to get some. I have 25 four week old RIR. I am so glad I didn't get ducks along with the chicks. It is a lot of work keeping up with them. When the weather warms up I plan on getting ducks. I live in North Florida but we have been having freezing temps. Good luck with your ducks. Post more pictures.

 

[chicks4fun]

I like your idea of an easy to drain tank for their water.
I have a small pond with shallow edges so they can easily get in and out. To clean it is near to impossible. I have lots of plants & try to balance the eco-system with the plants using the nutrients. I also run a small water fall to get air in the water (small goldfish live in the pond too---they just appear each spring).
I need to make a run or safe place for my ducks since I have little ones. When my drake was a young duck last summer I bought a young Khaki Campbell to be his friend but a hawk (I think) took him away as he was much lighter than the Pekin. I normally only let them out when i was home but I had to run a quick trip to the store & left them out with their mother. I came home to no KC and blood on my young pekin. I was heart broken. So with these babies they are either in my basement in a cage or out in the dog run that has a net over the top. It is the best I can do until I can figure a safer place this spring. I think I am going to use hog panels to make a hoop-run and add hardware cloth to make it safer. Not sure how I am going to build their shelter yet. I don't have great building skills so it is all a challenge.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I like your idea of an easy to drain tank for their water.
I have a small pond with shallow edges so they can easily get in and out. To clean it is near to impossible. I have lots of plants & try to balance the eco-system with the plants using the nutrients. I also run a small water fall to get air in the water (small goldfish live in the pond too---they just appear each spring).
I need to make a run or safe place for my ducks since I have little ones. When my drake was a young duck last summer I bought a young Khaki Campbell to be his friend but a hawk (I think) took him away as he was much lighter than the Pekin. I normally only let them out when i was home but I had to run a quick trip to the store & left them out with their mother. I came home to no KC and blood on my young pekin. I was heart broken. So with these babies they are either in my basement in a cage or out in the dog run that has a net over the top. It is the best I can do until I can figure a safer place this spring. I think I am going to use hog panels to make a hoop-run and add hardware cloth to make it safer. Not sure how I am going to build their shelter yet. I don't have great building skills so it is all a challenge.

A dog house will work as a safe house if you put a door on it so you can lock them up, and put good ventilation all around using hardware wire to keep out the preds. Watch craigslist for folks giving away stuff you may find a nice size dog house free or cheap.

 

[fowlmama]

Hello everyone! I'm a newbie and have greatly enjoyed this site! So much info!
My question is this, I have four ducklings that are 6 weeks old and mostly feathered in. I really want to put them outside, they are currently in my unfinished, unseated basement. I've had a heat lamp down there the entire time, temps stay in the mid to upper 50's. since they are almost completely feathered in do you think I can turn them out? I have a large 5' fenced yard, with a lean to full of straw and multiple doogloo's for them to get into if they so choose. Our temps now are anywhere from 40-almost 70 some days with lows in the upper thirties to four ties at night. They will be sharing this area with 6 other full grown ducks and two year old geese.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Tanks so much!

 

[tankerman]

Not sure weather wise if they're ready, but have you checked to see how your acult duck will react to their new coop-mates?

 

[fowlmama]

I'm planning on a slow introduction, I have the ability to have them all out with a fence between them. I've introduced newbies before with great success, of course there was the "getting to know each other" stage and the whole "pecking order" thing but nothing uncivil. I'm really hoping for the same this time around. The area where they are kept at night is very large and no risk for crowding, everyone gets turned out to roam and do their own thing during the day. They all hang right around the house! I would not allow the new babies to do this for awhile. I'd like them to just get accustomed to the backyard first!