brand new babythe mallards

[Jpurl]

Hi I'm new here and my story is about a month ago a female mallard laid her eggs on a stump on our lake the eggs rolled off into the water and my husband put them back then the next day the same thing happened again so I talked him into getting the eggs and we could try to incubate them I didn't have high hopes that they would hatch but 28 days later I have three baby mallards there were 9 eggs 4 hatched and one died a few hours after hatching they are two and a half weeks old and I have them in a brooder and am completely in love with them even though they are the messiest animals I have ever raised so I'm feeding them mannapro duck starter feed so my question is when should I start on the pellet feed? and I've also read they should have 24 /7 access to food and water but I was wondering could I feed them less at night or do I need to continue to let them have access to it all the time

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Hi welcome!
24/7 access to food and water until they are 6-8 weeks old. Then, you can give it to them twice a day - as far as food goes. What are your plans once they are ready for the outdoors?
Pics please! We love duckling pics here.

 

[Jpurl]

Hi welcome!
24/7 access to food and water until they are 6-8 weeks old. Then, you can give it to them twice a day - as far as food goes. What are your plans once they are ready for the outdoors?
Pics please! We love duckling pics here.

 

[Jpurl]

here are some pictures my plans are to eventually let them go at my lake once they are grown I also have several enclosures at my house I sent pictures of one I have been letting them be outside with supervision for about 2 hours a day I can move it around in the grass I have several large release cages that I used when I had squirrels I was rehabbing which I thought I could use to keep them safe at night when they are old enough but my ultimate goal would be to let them be free once they are old enough I have a large private lake which if they chose to stay would be ok