My ducklings was hatched from Metzer Farms on March 6th. I wanted to know if I could put them outside. They housing will have a heat lamp in it, but what about their run? Can they be outside in the cold without the heat lamp. The lowest it gets is 34°F and highest is 58°F. Should I keep them inside their duck coop? They are starting to get some feathers. I had 15 all Mallard Ducklings, and they never smelled as bad as these cuties do! Plus they make such a mess and spill their water everywhere. I now have them raised on wire mesh with kiddie pool under them to catch the water. The ducklings I have are: 2 Mallards, 3 Pekins, 4 Welsh Harlequin, 1 Buff Orp Duck, 1 Cayuga , and 1 White Muscovy hatched the day after the others from Freedom Hatchery.
I'd say its too cold. Then again I only have chickens. You can try it if you really want to. Put them all in there with the heat lamp and if they huddle up with each other right underneath the lamp, then they are too cold. If you do decide to try it out, you have to keep a VERY close eye on them.
I think my metzer ducklings hatched the same day as yours!!! I have been brooding mine outdoors in the coop. The warm corner is down to 60-65 and the rest is the same temp as outdoors. They spend time all over the coop, but still sleep in the warm corner. I have let them out in the connected run for short periods while supervised but they start to get cold. Its been around 45-50 here during the day. 30s at night. I have 13 total... they huddle together and then get too warm and start moving away from each other during the day... but at night they sleep fairly close together. So i would say keep them in the coop with a heat lamp in one corner. So they can get warm when needed. I sit with them every evening and see how they act ... i have been slowlly lowering the heat since they were seeming to warm when it was warmer. They are getting alot of thick down at this age.
I would say you could put them out with a heat lamp. If they can get back to he coop area from the enclosed run, that's the only way they can be out in those temps. They have to be able to get warm. Once they have more feathers, they'll be perfectly fine. It also helps that you have a lot of them, so they can cuddle up. But definitely offer that heat lamp 24/7
