Takhisis
In the Brooder
So, apologies, first-time duck mom so I have ALL THE QUESTIONS. My 11-day-old Indian Runner blaps seem to alternate randomly between sleeping at one side of the brooder, where they have a towel-lined bed box set up (40%), and sleeping at the exact other far side as close to the waterer as possible (60%). The heat lamp is exactly equidistant between the two sides so both areas are the same temp, BTW. I originally had the waterer in a baking sheet tray with a towel to keep the general bedding dry, but I had to change to a square baking dish w/ towel because they would all pile up and sleep IN the tray in the collected puddle on the soggy towel and get themselves as mucky and damp as possible.
Their water is always clean and full as much as humanly possible (I am fortunate enough to WFH right now so I check them every 40 minutes or so). Food and water status seems to have zero bearing on where they want to be. Is there any reason they want to just randomly lie in as wet and mucky an environment as possible half the time? Is the brooder too warm? (It's actually low for their age, about 80F but they were unhappy with higher.) They don't SEEM overwarm, they're not crowding away from the light and are often snuggling together, just snuggling up to the waterer specifically (which is set out from the far wall a bit) like it's a teddy bear. Do I maybe need to get them a (non-soggy) snuggle friend? Or are they just being toddlers and more mess = more awesome? Do they have some kind of "water anxiety" even though they have always had it provided infinitely since I got them at day 2? Is it just "The Ducky Way"?
It doesn't seem to be HURTING them any so far, just giving them semi-permanently soggy fuzz underbellies. Can they get, I dunno, baby-feather mildew? I know that adult ducks, once they have their feathers all oil-gland'ed up, are Rockin' Like Dokken. But these girls, as hardcore as they like to pretend to be, are barely getting their first little butt peacock sprouts. If it doesn't hurt them any I'll let them pursue their damp happiness, but I don't want to let them be hurt via ignorance. <3
Thank you all!
Their water is always clean and full as much as humanly possible (I am fortunate enough to WFH right now so I check them every 40 minutes or so). Food and water status seems to have zero bearing on where they want to be. Is there any reason they want to just randomly lie in as wet and mucky an environment as possible half the time? Is the brooder too warm? (It's actually low for their age, about 80F but they were unhappy with higher.) They don't SEEM overwarm, they're not crowding away from the light and are often snuggling together, just snuggling up to the waterer specifically (which is set out from the far wall a bit) like it's a teddy bear. Do I maybe need to get them a (non-soggy) snuggle friend? Or are they just being toddlers and more mess = more awesome? Do they have some kind of "water anxiety" even though they have always had it provided infinitely since I got them at day 2? Is it just "The Ducky Way"?
It doesn't seem to be HURTING them any so far, just giving them semi-permanently soggy fuzz underbellies. Can they get, I dunno, baby-feather mildew? I know that adult ducks, once they have their feathers all oil-gland'ed up, are Rockin' Like Dokken. But these girls, as hardcore as they like to pretend to be, are barely getting their first little butt peacock sprouts. If it doesn't hurt them any I'll let them pursue their damp happiness, but I don't want to let them be hurt via ignorance. <3
Thank you all!
