Ducklings and the outdoors

[NewbieChuckies505]

There’s a lot of recommendations for gauging temperature needs, but personally, I start with 90° and subtract 1° for each day they’re alive. So, 3 week olds would be 90 - 21 = 69°F.

By the time they’re fully feathered, they can tolerate 20°F without shelter, and way down into the negatives with shelter.

So even okay if ducks still only have fluff? I have 3 almost 4 week old mallards and they barely sprouted their first ‘shoulder feathers’ the other night and have the starts of tail feathers. So they are still fluff mostly.

 

[KathiQuacks]

So even okay if ducks still only have fluff? I have 3 almost 4 week old mallards and they barely sprouted their first ‘shoulder feathers’ the other night and have the starts of tail feathers. So they are still fluff mostly.

If the outside temperature is warm enough, or if they have another heat source, yes, they can go out when they just have fluff.