Ducklings brooder?

[ducklover101202]

How often should you clean the brooder? Is every other day good because I did it yesterday and not today and was going to do it tomorrow but should I do it everyday? Also they sneeze sometimes but nothing comes from their nose and they are still very active but I do hear them sneeze. Should I give them cold or warm water to drink from because they step in it, will they get chills from cold water?

 

[duckyfromoz]

It depends on how many you have and how messy they are. You may find as they grow that it will need to be done more often.

I clean mine every day - and twice a day by the time they reach 4 weeks old.

As for the water temp...If you put it in warm..it will cool down eventually anyway- but at least only to room temp not cold liek out of the tap.

 

[katharinad]

Ducks need to clean out their nasal passages. They usually do that by putting their head into water blowing bubbles out of the noses. It's really funny to watch. My baby ducks have been swimming in warm water since day 2. Just a couple of minutes. You will see when they slow down washing, that's when they need to go out of the water. That's usually 5 minutes. I towel dry them and off into the brooder. I do clean it every day using a cheap version of pee wee pads found at Walmart. Makes clean up so much faster. They also get a cotton towel to sleep on. They are now 3 weeks old and out of the brooder into the duck house. It is heated and kept at 65 degrees. They have been outdoors for days now and are used to 60 degrees. Overall the cleaning depends on how many ducks and how much poo. I had only 2 ducks in the brooder so I was ok with once per day for about the first two weeks. After that it would have been twice per day, but they were outside half of the day so was getting by with once per day. Just thing this way would you like to live in your own poo. I can tell you my ducks were eager to take a bath each morning just to get themselves cleaned. The water should have room temperature for drinking. For swimming it needs to be warm the first 2 weeks.
Katharina