duckduckcaboose
Chirping
- Jun 13, 2019
- 26
- 59
- 56
Hi!
Unfortunately, 3 of the 4 ducklings I got from Metzer died last week. They seemed like they were having seizures. After speaking with Ashley at Metzer, she thinks they were probably dropped during shipping. It was a heartbreaking week and I barely left the brooder in my attempt to rehabilitate them.
Metzer is sending me 5 new ducklings that will arrive on Wednesday. I still have 1 of my original ducklings, the silver Appleyard, and she is doing great.
I want to try and keep them all in the same brooder if possible since I will just have the 1 that is older (she will be 2 weeks when they arrive). I ordered a premier 1 heat plate to insure that there is enough room for everyone to get warm without laying on top of each other. Here's my current brooder set up.
The 55 gallon tote obviously won't fit everything I need. I have this dog pool that I can either set up as a brooder (though I'm concerned about drafts with the new duckies) OR I can cut a hole in the side of the tote and keep the heating stuff set up in the tote and move the food and water out to the dog pool area so they can go back and forth. Which would you do?
Also, I have bigger and smaller food and water dishes, the size I have in there currently is working well for my 1 duck, but I can definitely size up/down.
Another concern I have is how to feed the different ages. Going by Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks, I would go down to 16-18% protein at 2 weeks of age and free feed only 15 minutes at a time 3x a day.
I currently have my duckling on Scratch and Peck Chick Starter which is 20% protein and that's what I plan to feed the new babies as well. So in this situation what would you do? I'm not sure I can keep the older duckling out of the higher protein chick starter, especially if I only free feed her 3x a day. How important is it that she transitions to less protein when she is 2 weeks old?
Unfortunately, 3 of the 4 ducklings I got from Metzer died last week. They seemed like they were having seizures. After speaking with Ashley at Metzer, she thinks they were probably dropped during shipping. It was a heartbreaking week and I barely left the brooder in my attempt to rehabilitate them.
Metzer is sending me 5 new ducklings that will arrive on Wednesday. I still have 1 of my original ducklings, the silver Appleyard, and she is doing great.
I want to try and keep them all in the same brooder if possible since I will just have the 1 that is older (she will be 2 weeks when they arrive). I ordered a premier 1 heat plate to insure that there is enough room for everyone to get warm without laying on top of each other. Here's my current brooder set up.
The 55 gallon tote obviously won't fit everything I need. I have this dog pool that I can either set up as a brooder (though I'm concerned about drafts with the new duckies) OR I can cut a hole in the side of the tote and keep the heating stuff set up in the tote and move the food and water out to the dog pool area so they can go back and forth. Which would you do?
Also, I have bigger and smaller food and water dishes, the size I have in there currently is working well for my 1 duck, but I can definitely size up/down.
Another concern I have is how to feed the different ages. Going by Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks, I would go down to 16-18% protein at 2 weeks of age and free feed only 15 minutes at a time 3x a day.
I currently have my duckling on Scratch and Peck Chick Starter which is 20% protein and that's what I plan to feed the new babies as well. So in this situation what would you do? I'm not sure I can keep the older duckling out of the higher protein chick starter, especially if I only free feed her 3x a day. How important is it that she transitions to less protein when she is 2 weeks old?
