Call duckling care and call duck care.

Mccluckers

Chirping
5 Years
Jun 5, 2014
701
9
96
uk
Hi there I am hopefully going to be get some call ducklings in November and I would like to know everything about there care.

When do they come of heat and when can they go out side ?

What to feed them?
And all that kind of stuff

When they are grown up they will be living with my chickens but in a separate house

My chickens eat growers pellets with oyster shell on The side as I have a mixed age flock and not all are laying. Would this be ok for the ducks?or would that be too much protein and would that cause angel wing? I understand they need wheat when do I give this to them?

Sorry for so many questions

Look forward to your answers,
 
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I do!! What do you wanna know besides feeding and housing stuff?

Another great person to ask is Lacrystol, she breeds 'em. ^^
 
Well for starters, no duck should eat grower pellets meant for chickens, unless you supplement it with brewer's yeast or a crushed niacin tablet. Starter crumb is best, since it's much smaller and thus easier for the babies to eat. And since call ducks are so tiny, they have trouble with pellets meant for other ducks. Take my Wobbles, I have to soak or crush my Mazuri feed just so she can eat them!

As far as angel wing, some say it's hereditary, some say it's from too much protein, I'm willing to say it's a bit of both. But my vet also said that too much calcium that young in life isn't good for growing ducklings, either. Seems counterintuitive, but I trust her advice. So I'd avoid giving them oyster shell until at least 8-12 weeks of age.
 
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So I was going to give them duck starter for 2-4 weeks as I have read then move them on to growers pellets or do they need duck starter until they are adults? Then what?
 
As far as when they are ducklings, they are just like raising normal sized just that they are bite sized
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. Little cute balls of adorable fuzz that love to turn a beautifully clean brooder into a wet smelly swampland! Be prepared to have a clean brooder for 10 minute sessions, 15 min tops. They are lucky that they are just down right adorable in this phase, let me tell you.....

When they are larger they still love to play with water, once they get their feathers, get them one of those blue kiddy pools if you don't have other sources for them to swim in (they do need some sort of step to get in and out of though. They absolutely love their swimming pools, imagine Velcro, when have to get them to leave the pool to go in at night.

Also, when they get all their feathers, THEY WILL fly, badly usually. They are great on the takeoff but I wince everytime for the landing (though mine have perfected it now, the first couple weeks were painful to watch). You can clip their wings but as I live out in the country I don't anymore, mine have a nice little spring maybe 30ft from my henhouse and they usually don't leave that. Except when they get excited, like when they see my car pull up, then they fly all the way down to the house which is a good 300 ft. away! One more thing, if you have close neighbors, the females can get quite loud. Though its something I've come to love because it just sounds so funny, like little kids laughing or something idk.

Mine live with my chickens and other than an occasional squabble, chicken coming to close to the "sacred blue kiddy pool", they get along great. They get layer pellets, wheat, and black sunflower seeds, though mine are also free range, so they get a lot of greens and what no on their own.

In summary haha, they pretty much stay adorable forever and are quite comical little guys. I actually like them a little more than my chickens,
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, but its a very very close race.The only problem I have ever had with mine is that the males do start to fight when they are about 1 yr. or so. 3 females to a drake is a pretty good ratio.
 

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