Brooder Question-new to ducks!

[samuelsonfarm]

OK, our 10 ducklings are a week old today. They are huge already! For the most part, they huddle up together away from the heat lamp. I have raised it considerably so the temp in the brooder is somewhere around 75 degrees. Should I get rid of it all together? They seem to really want to be away from it, and our brooder isn't that big really. They'll need to be moved to a bigger one very soon. Any other tips for a newbie are greatly appreciated!

 

[Amiga]

Have you read the sticky on raising ducklings? That is loaded with goodies.

The rule of thumb is 90F the first week, dropping about 5 degrees a week till you reach the regular air temperature. If you have a thermometer in there that is reliable, and it seems you do, that helps. And as you are doing, watching them, their behavior tells you quite a bit, too.

What is the temperature outside the brooder? And are they Pekins?

We went through three brooder configurations with our eleven babies.

 

[samuelsonfarm]

We have a mix of duck breeds. 2 jumbo pekin, 3 black runner, 3 fawn and white runner, 2 cayuga, We also just picked up 3 buff ducklings from Metzer that are 2 days old (metzer sent us the wrong breed, so they sent us 3 ducks in replacement, awesome customer service by the way!). So, I have a couple of additional questions. Can I put the 2 day olds with the 1 week olds? They're so much bigger than the little ones! I have them in their own cardboard box next to the bigger brooder and they're sharing the heat lamp right now. The week-olds go back and forth in the light. Sometimes they sleep under it, and other times they huddle together in another part of the brooder. I suppose if the 2-day-olds can go in with them then I'll just have the lamp available to them 24/7. The air temp during the day in our laundry room where we're keeping them is about 75-80 during the day, and 50ish at night. Thanks a ton for any tips! This whole duck thing is new to me!

 

[Amiga]

I would divide the brooder with some plastic poultry fence. The little bitty littles stay on one side, the older littles on the other. Ducklings are wonderful animals, and don't often do well in mixed sizes. I don't think the bigger ones get the concept of looking out for the smaller ones, who end up getting stepped on.

 

[samuelsonfarm]

We created a new brooder set-up. In this photo we have our 1.5 week olds in the bottom hutch and the 4 day olds on top in our first brooder. The older ones are still getting a lot of ambient heat from the light above them, and the room is nice and toasty. Everyone seems very happy with the arrangement! Check out my other post "Quacking Duckling" and you'll see one of our buff babies quacking at 4 days old! I'd love any feedback you can give . Thanks!