Do water nipples work for ducks?

[louborges]

i’ve never seen ducklings on a wire floor like that i’m sure it keeps them dry but I am not sure if it’s good for their little feet. @KathiQuacks @Miss Lydia
do you have any suggestions?

I've raised them on wire before and haven't seen any problems.

 

[KathiQuacks]

i’ve never seen ducklings on a wire floor like that i’m sure it keeps them dry but I am not sure if it’s good for their little feet. @KathiQuacks @Miss Lydia
do you have any suggestions?

I’ve never done, and don’t think I’d ever do, wire flooring, but I suppose it could work here, as the mesh is rather fine and doesn’t seem to be covering the entire brooder. The older the ducklings get, the better it should be.

@louborges
As my ducklings got older, I noticed they were draining their water fast as well, and I found it was because the waterer wasn’t deep enough for them to dunk their bills. They’d try and try to filter the water through their nares and just end up dumping the water everywhere instead. I noticed this, and my babies sneezing all the time, so I switched to a deeper water dish, and they used wayyy less water because of it. Perhaps that is what is happening here?

I agree with @Miss Lydia ‘s waterer.

 

[Yardmom]

If a duck or duckling does not have access to water for any period of time then it must not have access to food either. Ducks can not eat food without using water to help swallow it or it can get clumped up in their throat. and they can die.

Correct that is why I keep nipple waters in the pen where their food is.

 

[Jenbirdee]

We all know that ducklings are very messy with water, That is their nature, But I'm hoping to find something that will provide them water for a long time, the standard waterer the screw on cap type gets empty so quickly that I have to keep filling it and I'm not home most of the time to keep filling it,

Here is a link to an older thread about this same exact issue, where you will hear several more people discuss this (it also links to another more recent thread about the same thing) https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nipple-waterers-ok-for-ducks.1091828/

 

[Jenbirdee]

Correct that is why I keep nipple waters in the pen where their food is.

I want to ask you a favor - would you have time to make a short video of your ducks walking back and forth eating and using the nipple waterers ? and post it here? I think it will be very helpful. I believe it is working for you I just have trouble imagining it....

 

[Jenbirdee]

I want to ask you a favor - would you have time to make a short video of your ducks walking back and forth eating and using the nipple waterers ? and post it here? I think it will be very helpful. I believe it is working for you I just have trouble imagining it....

post script
you also said your ducks are on a pond during the day so they can dunk their heads all day long, but the ducklings in the OP’s brooder do not have any other water source besides what he has in there with them now. so he can’t only use nipples in there, there’s got to be something else in there as well that holds water that they can dunk heads in too….

 

[louborges]

This setup works best for me and the ducks, The wire mesh is plastic coated and easy on their little feet. Having the tub under this brooder makes clean-up easy, I just dump the water. Having them on wooden shavings is harder to keep clean, They easily get soggy and the poop builds up, I know if I had a larger brooder it may not be too much of a problem,