I have five ducklings that would now be four days old, I think. They're way sturdier, bigger, and independent than four-day-old chickens so I am wondering if the person I bought them from misled me about their age.
One thing I have noticed is they don't seem to need heat. I had them with a light at 90 degrees to start with, but it was obvious pretty quick that that was too hot so I raised it so it was 85. Even that was too much, so I put it to 80 and that seemed okay (no panting, they were moving around, etc), but I never saw them go under there and they never slept under it. Last night I had to move their brooder and I wasn't able to put the light as close, but they seemed happy (moving around, drinking, eating, etc) so I didn't think anything of it. They slept in a little ball (but that's exactly how they slept with the heat in there too, on the opposite side from it) and in the middle of the night I did throw a little warmed up bean bag in there for them, but when I got up this morning they were wandering around, eating and drinking, etc. I found my thermometer and checked the temperature, and it was room temperature! Is having five of them in there together enough to keep them warm on it's own?
I think my biggest worry about the heat is that they keep trying to swim in their water dish (which is full of marbles, so it's deep enough they can get their heads in but they just kind of sit on top of the marbles to "swim"), so they're pretty much all constantly wet. It doesn't seem to bother them, but it worries me. But maybe that's just the chick mama in me worrying.
Here they are having their first swim. They would have only been two days old in this picture.
One thing I have noticed is they don't seem to need heat. I had them with a light at 90 degrees to start with, but it was obvious pretty quick that that was too hot so I raised it so it was 85. Even that was too much, so I put it to 80 and that seemed okay (no panting, they were moving around, etc), but I never saw them go under there and they never slept under it. Last night I had to move their brooder and I wasn't able to put the light as close, but they seemed happy (moving around, drinking, eating, etc) so I didn't think anything of it. They slept in a little ball (but that's exactly how they slept with the heat in there too, on the opposite side from it) and in the middle of the night I did throw a little warmed up bean bag in there for them, but when I got up this morning they were wandering around, eating and drinking, etc. I found my thermometer and checked the temperature, and it was room temperature! Is having five of them in there together enough to keep them warm on it's own?
I think my biggest worry about the heat is that they keep trying to swim in their water dish (which is full of marbles, so it's deep enough they can get their heads in but they just kind of sit on top of the marbles to "swim"), so they're pretty much all constantly wet. It doesn't seem to bother them, but it worries me. But maybe that's just the chick mama in me worrying.
Here they are having their first swim. They would have only been two days old in this picture.
I came up with an idea for a brooder where I can have a light on it a little easier than what I've been doing, so I'm working on that as we speak. I was thinking of using sand at the bottom (which is what I did for chickens), but I'm not sure if wet sand or wet shavings is better? (Obviously I would be doing my best to keep on top of the wet anything.) Room temperature on our top floor (where they were) is 70 degrees or more. Our air conditioner doesn't work very well up here (unfortunately for us, but fortunately for the ducklings I guess).
