Ducklings piling together next to heat source...worried newbie

[duckiquackers]

Hi Everyone,

I am new here and a brand new ducky guardian! I have 7 three day old welsh harlequins. Since they arrived two days ago, they have been eating/drinking with gusto, pooping, and sleeping under their ecoglow 20, so I have been feeling pretty good about how they are faring. However, today I noticed that instead of routinely returning to sit under the ecoglow (like they did last night and yesterday) they are now piled tightly in the corner next to the ecoglow where there is no heat. Our house is cool, about 65 degrees, so I imagine they are trying to keep warm but I'm not sure as they clearly have located the heat before. The ecoglow is working and doesn't feel unusually hot or any different than yesterday. Is it possible for the babies to get confused and forget where the heat is? I haven't seen any of them use the ecoglow since waking up this morning and it is now 1pm. I'm scared of chilling due to their love of splashing the water everywhere. Am I over thinking this or do I need to do something to get them back under the heat source?

Thanks!

 

[DucksAndGardens]

Have you tried putting them back under the ecoglow? Maybe they forgot where the heat it? I've never used one of those, I always used a heat lamp and they would be drawn to the light. It could be that they don't associate the ecoglow with warmth yet. Also maybe move the ecoglow into the corner that they are piled into. Are they peeping excessively? Any shivering? Possibly they might be just fine outside of the ecoglow's hear source. Are their feet warm when you pick them up? If their feet are warm I wouldn't worry about them too much as long as there is a heat source available.

 

[duckiquackers]

thank you ducksandgardens for the quick reply! They were quiet, no shivering, but feet were a bit cool. I used some cardboard to block off the offending corner so it is no longer available for a pile up and used my hand to shoo a few of them under the ecoglow. 4 of them are now resting underneath it - interestingly, they all seem to move like a herd. if one goes into the corner, soon all of them crush in. if somebody is drinking water, they all want to be drinking. if no one is under the ecoglow, no one wants to be the first one in. once i got 2 to hunker down under there, 2 more quickly joined and the remaining 3 are now perched on top (which is warmer than nothing so I'll take it). i'm hoping that by blocking the corner off they'll figure things out sooner rather than later.