Brooder help

[DaniellyB]

Hey all! Long story short, I did not incubate my Muscovy duck eggs correctly (first time) so there are several eggs that have already hatched and some due to hatch this week and next. That being said, I know I am supposed to lower the heat of my brooder as the weeks go on.
I do have a second brooder for back up, but what is the best way to go about this? Put fresh, newly hatched ducklings into a fairly warm brooder then move them into the other with the "older" ducklings?
I just want to make sure I am not freezing anyone or over heating anyone.
They are inside right now in our office. The room stays very warm. Brooder is running between 90 degrees and 93 degrees. I also keep the ceiling fan running just to circulate the air a little. A little worried also if I put another brooder in there is may become TOO warm. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks

 

[DaniellyB]

Hey all! Long story short, I did not incubate my Muscovy duck eggs correctly (first time) so there are several eggs that have already hatched and some due to hatch this week and next. That being said, I know I am supposed to lower the heat of my brooder as the weeks go on.
I do have a second brooder for back up, but what is the best way to go about this? Put fresh, newly hatched ducklings into a fairly warm brooder then move them into the other with the "older" ducklings?
I just want to make sure I am not freezing anyone or over heating anyone.
They are inside right now in our office. The room stays very warm. Brooder is running between 90 degrees and 93 degrees. I also keep the ceiling fan running just to circulate the air a little. A little worried also if I put another brooder in there is may become TOO warm. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks

lol and yes those are stockings for them. My kiddos insisted they get presents from Santa too

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I personally don't mess with the temperature apart from weaning at the end of the brooding. I would not put the 2 week younger ones with the oldest though just due to the size differences

 

[DaniellyB]

I personally don't mess with the temperature apart from weaning at the end of the brooding. I would not put the 2 week younger ones with the oldest though just due to the size differences

Awesome!
Yeah I had a feeling the second brooder would come in handy for the size differences.

I did notice the 4 day old duckling has been picking on the newest one a little. They end up snuggling but should I be worried at all?

 

[MGG]

Hey all! Long story short, I did not incubate my Muscovy duck eggs correctly (first time) so there are several eggs that have already hatched and some due to hatch this week and next. That being said, I know I am supposed to lower the heat of my brooder as the weeks go on.
I do have a second brooder for back up, but what is the best way to go about this? Put fresh, newly hatched ducklings into a fairly warm brooder then move them into the other with the "older" ducklings?
I just want to make sure I am not freezing anyone or over heating anyone.
They are inside right now in our office. The room stays very warm. Brooder is running between 90 degrees and 93 degrees. I also keep the ceiling fan running just to circulate the air a little. A little worried also if I put another brooder in there is may become TOO warm. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks

Definitely turn the fan off, that'll just draft them instead of make them warmer. They're very sensitive to that kind of thing.
Like Jacin said, I don't move the lamp at all either until it's time to wean them. Just weaning them at the end is a whole lot easier, imo. Keep the younger ones separate for maybe a day or two and then put them all in together. It's important that they are all together from a young age to avoid fights happening during integration. There's no specific temperature to keep it at, just watch the individual birds. I've noticed that extremely cold hardy ducks can't tolerate a hot end of more than 85 in their brooder, while more fair-weather ducks like it to be around 90. Anything over 90 is too warm for any ducklings, in my opinion. But watch your birds and see what they seem to prefer. If they're huddled under the lamp, lower it, if they're all spread out by the edges, raise it, and if they're active and sleeping in the middle area it's perfect.

 

[MGG]

Awesome!
Yeah I had a feeling the second brooder would come in handy for the size differences.

I did notice the 4 day old duckling has been picking on the newest one a little. They end up snuggling but should I be worried at all?

Where is it picking at on the youngest one?

 

[NatJ]

I know I am supposed to lower the heat of my brooder as the weeks go on.
I do have a second brooder for back up, but what is the best way to go about this? Put fresh, newly hatched ducklings into a fairly warm brooder then move them into the other with the "older" ducklings?

I have no duck experience, but I do have chicken experience.

If you have a BIG brooder, you can have a heat lamp keeping one corner warm enough for newly-hatched ones, and the area further away will be a bit cooler, and the furthest half of the brooder is at room temperature (no added heat at all.) Then there is no need to adjust temperature at all-- the chicks run in and out of the warm areas and cool areas, but generally spend more time in the cooler areas as they grow. I know this works fine for raising chicks that hatch over a period of two weeks or so.

I assume something similar would work with ducklings too, but I do not know how quickly they get how big-- you would need to be careful that the big ones cannot trample the little ones.

Note, my idea of a big brooder is 4 feet by 6 or 8 feet. I'm not sure how small you can get it and still have enough cool space. Bigger yet is no problem.

 

[DaniellyB]

Definitely turn the fan off, that'll just draft them instead of make them warmer. They're very sensitive to that kind of thing.
Like Jacin said, I don't move the lamp at all either until it's time to wean them. Just weaning them at the end is a whole lot easier, imo. Keep the younger ones separate for maybe a day or two and then put them all in together. It's important that they are all together from a young age to avoid fights happening during integration. There's no specific temperature to keep it at, just watch the individual birds. I've noticed that extremely cold hardy ducks can't tolerate a hot end of more than 85 in their brooder, while more fair-weather ducks like it to be around 90. Anything over 90 is too warm for any ducklings, in my opinion. But watch your birds andfa see what they seem to prefer. If they're huddled under the lamp, lower it, if they're all spread out by the edges, raise it, and if they're active and sleeping in the middle area it's perfect.

Definitely turn the fan off, that'll just draft them instead of make them warmer. They're very sensitive to that kind of thing.
Like Jacin said, I don't move the lamp at all either until it's time to wean them. Just weaning them at the end is a whole lot easier, imo. Keep the younger ones separate for maybe a day or two and then put them all in together. It's important that they are all together from a young age to avoid fights happening during integration. There's no specific temperature to keep it at, just watch the individual birds. I've noticed that extremely cold hardy ducks can't tolerate a hot end of more than 85 in their brooder, while more fair-weather ducks like it to be around 90. Anything over 90 is too warm for any ducklings, in my opinion. But watch your birds and see what they seem to prefer. If they're huddled under the lamp, lower it, if they're all spread out by the edges, raise it, and if they're active and sleeping in the middle area it's perfect.

Fan is off! They have been sleeping anywhere, no one spot in particular so I think so far so good then I will separate any new ones into the second brooder.

 

[DaniellyB]

Where is it picking at on the youngest one?

Just all over. It does not seem to be vicious but this is also new to me and the size differences are very apparent

 

[DaniellyB]

I have no duck experience, but I do have chicken experience.

If you have a BIG brooder, you can have a heat lamp keeping one corner warm enough for newly-hatched ones, and the area further away will be a bit cooler, and the furthest half of the brooder is at room temperature (no added heat at all.) Then there is no need to adjust temperature at all-- the chicks run in and out of the warm areas and cool areas, but generally spend more time in the cooler areas as they grow. I know this works fine for raising chicks that hatch over a period of two weeks or so.

I assume something similar would work with ducklings too, but I do not know how quickly they get how big-- you would need to be careful that the big ones cannot trample the little ones.

Note, my idea of a big brooder is 4 feet by 6 or 8 feet. I'm not sure how small you can get it and still have enough cool space. Bigger yet is no problem.

I definitely am wanting something bigger once they get reallly messy haha.