Brooder Size???

[neetabeamie]

How big do I need to make my brooder? how tall should I make the sides? I am getting five ducklings. 4 girls and 1 boy.
I have 4 chickens about two years old in my run and coop. I plan on getting some type of fencing and fencing off a part of my run so they can get used to each other (I will start dong this when my ducks are older between 3-4 weeks or when they don't need the heat lamp). I will keep them out there in the run for a few hours each day then bring them back into the brooder to sleep. I will do this until they are big enough to hold there own with my chickens. my chickens are not mean but you know how chickens are with smaller birds.

So I need a brooder that will be big enough.
Do ducks ever jump over the sides of the brooder if they are not tall sides? my chickens did. so I had to place peaces of wood across the top with spaces in between.
What do you think?

 

[neetabeamie]

but I don't want to make it overly big.

 

[Amiga]

Hi!

If you can get ahold of a copy of Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks, there is a section in there on sizing your brooder. Based on the adult size of the ducks, you can figure out how much space they need.

Calls won't need nearly the room as Muscovies. And ducklings grow FAST. I think they double in size each week for the first few weeks. We had three different brooders, because they grew so fast. Every two weeks I had to expand the brooder - third brooder I finally had made big enough.

 

[neetabeamie]

Thank you! i have ordered the book.