Brooder/heat question

[friendlyearth]

We have three Indian Runner ducklings. One is 3 days old. One is about 10 days old. One is 3-4 weeks old.

Right now they are in a small container, but they need something bigger ASAP. Tomorrow we are building a bigger brooder for them. How big should it be to get them to 6 weeks when we can put them out with the chickens and Cayuga pair? We don't want to put them out one at a time. How warm should we keep it? Obviously, the 3-4 week old doesn't need the heat.

Thanks!

 

[Amiga]

My eleven ducklings did okay in a 60 sf brooder. Don't faint - due to a very cold, late spring, we had to keep them in at night until they were twelve weeks old, so they were big girls.

But if you back calculate - that's just under 6 sf per bird. At that rate, you'd want about 20 sf total, which would be about a 4'x5' brooder.

You could set that up so that heat is at one end and the birds can move closer to or farther away from the heat.

What do you plan to do about food? I had my 0-3 week olds on starter crumbles then slowly switched to grower pellets. How can you make sure everyone gets what they need?

An advantage of a little extra wing room is that their poops aren't as concentrated in a small area.

Enjoy those babies!