Brooding Box Idea

[Am5687]

I currently have 12 eggs in an incubator I’m trying to hatch this is my first attempt along with 18 in a next one of our ducks is working on. Our first group we started our flock with we used an old rodent cage to raise them in but now if even half the eggs hatch I’ll need something bigger. I was thinking about using some extra cedar fence pickets as the main box part and making it kind of a natural floor. What I mean is the floor will be cedar with a half inch piece of foam insulation over crate light diffuser. Then add some topsoil and plant grass in it. I am thinking I would add worms in there to turn the soil and give the baby ducks a more of a natural environment to forage in and some of the mess they make would be absorbed into the false ground and help the grass grow. Please let me know of any pros or cons and opinions on this idea.

 

[nuthatched]

Cedar can be toxic to chickens and possibly ducks.
They will likely gorge on dirt and anything they can get their beaks on, they're babies.
Puppy pads are great litter.

 

[telandra2]

I bought a folding coop this year and I'm happy with it. I put it inside the big coop with a heat plate, food, and water. As ducklings aged I propped the door open so babies can go in and out but adults can't. You can also take it outside for sunshine time. I used it a second time to keep mamma duck and her 22! ducklings safe from pushy geese.

Now that they are teens it's folded up waiting for next year.

It looks easy to build if you are a DIYer.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D6W6NJW

 

[Jenbirdee]

I bought a folding coop this year and I'm happy with it. I put it inside the big coop with a heat plate, food, and water. As ducklings aged I propped the door open so babies can go in and out but adults can't. You can also take it outside for sunshine time. I used it a second time to keep mamma duck and her 22! ducklings safe from pushy geese.

Now that they are teens it's folded up waiting for next year.

It looks easy to build if you are a DIYer.
View attachment 3928763
View attachment 3928766

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D6W6NJW

that’s fantastic thanks

 

[LydiaB]

I have a brooder with a hardware cloth floor. Super easy to hose clean. I can brood them outside on grass with it, and it fits 17 ducks until 4-5 weeks old.

 

[Am5687]

I have a brooder with a hardware cloth floor. Super easy to hose clean. I can brood them outside on grass with it, and it fits 17 ducks until 4-5 weeks old.

I like that design. Mostly I was asking because I like to provide and animals I have with as natural of a setting as I can. Right now it’s starting to cool down over night and I’m not to sure about leaving them outside. The days would be fine. As far as using cedar I know the cedar shavings are bad to use along with the aromatic cedar for building coops. So that’s why I was going to use the extra westerners red cedar that I have seen others build coops out of.

Cedar can be toxic to chickens and possibly ducks.
They will likely gorge on dirt and anything they can get their beaks on, they're babies.
Puppy pads are great litter.

Why do you say the ducklings may gorge on the dirt inside? If they were outside they would be able to do that also. Or would they be more interested in only doing what mom does so if she’s not pecking the dirt they won’t. Not trying to argue just wondering.

 

[nuthatched]

I like that design. Mostly I was asking because I like to provide and animals I have with as natural of a setting as I can. Right now it’s starting to cool down over night and I’m not to sure about leaving them outside. The days would be fine. As far as using cedar I know the cedar shavings are bad to use along with the aromatic cedar for building coops. So that’s why I was going to use the extra westerners red cedar that I have seen others build coops out of.

Why do you say the ducklings may gorge on the dirt inside? If they were outside they would be able to do that also. Or would they be more interested in only doing what mom does so if she’s not pecking the dirt they won’t. Not trying to argue just wondering.

Because there's less inside to occupy their interest. And babies put every single thing in their mouths.