So as of 5:30am today, I am now the proud "daddy" to three 2-day old Khaki Campbell hens. These are my very first ducks, and I couldn't be more excited. (My wife has been quite amused at my giddiness.) I spent 2 months gathering info and "lurking" on this forum, before I dived in and ordered 3 ducklings from Metzer Farms.
I spent a few days planning what to do for a brooder, and this is what I eventually settled on. This was largely inspired by ideas I got from this BackyardChicken article on duckling care. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...site&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email
The brooder itself is a 66 qt storage bin that used to be full of junk out in my garage. I set the feeder and waterer on top of a small baking pan, covered with hardware cloth. I went with 1/4" hardware cloth that I picked up at Home Depot, because the 1/2" cloth looked like the holes might be too big for the ducklings tiny feet. The baking pan takes up about half of the plastic storage tub, and I am using straw on the other half. For a heat lamp, I am using a 150 watt "Night Black Heat" incandescent bulb. And I mounted a small round thermometer on the wall of the storage tub near the bottom.
I wasn't happy with any of the starter feeds I found at my local feed store, so I went on Amazon.com and ordered this stuff called "Gamebird/Showbird Complete Crumbles" made by MannaPro. It claims to be good for a variety of birds, including ducks. However it's a bit high in protein, 24% according to the label, so I'll probably start mixing it with something else to lower their overall protein intake. (Haven't decided what yet.)
Since I have 2 cats, at first I thought I would need to keep the brooder in a closet or some other small room I could lock the cats out of. But eventually I came up with this solution, and put the entire breeder inside of a large dog kennel.
Since that pic was taken, I have covered the top of the kennel with clear contact paper, sticky side up, to discourage the cats from hanging out on top of the kennel and possibly terorrizing the little ducklings. So far, that's working pretty well.
When my local post office called me at around 5 am this morning to tell me "we have birdies for you", I rushed over right away and picked them up. The postal worker handed me this small box, and to my delight the box was peeping! I could hear a chorus of 3 distinct voices peeping simultaneously, which quelled my worry that one of the ducklings may not have survived the trip. Here is the little box they were shipped in.
Here was my first glimpse of them when I opened the box. The white thing the ducklings are snuggled up on is a disposable heating pad, it felt like it contained some kind of gel, and it was still warm when I opened the box.
When I put them in the brooder, they started drinking and eating right away, hopefully that means they are healthy. I ended up lowering the lamp down about 1-1/2 inches to raise the temperature up a bit, and I think that made them happy. Those little girls sure are messy! I have had to refill the waterer twice already, since they've splashed most of it out into the pan below.
They are such adorable little ducklings. My kids of course are just thrilled, especially since I promised them they can each name one of the ducks. Now I get to start building a coop and a run in the back yard. I'll post pics of that venture as I progress.
I spent a few days planning what to do for a brooder, and this is what I eventually settled on. This was largely inspired by ideas I got from this BackyardChicken article on duckling care. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...site&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email
The brooder itself is a 66 qt storage bin that used to be full of junk out in my garage. I set the feeder and waterer on top of a small baking pan, covered with hardware cloth. I went with 1/4" hardware cloth that I picked up at Home Depot, because the 1/2" cloth looked like the holes might be too big for the ducklings tiny feet. The baking pan takes up about half of the plastic storage tub, and I am using straw on the other half. For a heat lamp, I am using a 150 watt "Night Black Heat" incandescent bulb. And I mounted a small round thermometer on the wall of the storage tub near the bottom.
I wasn't happy with any of the starter feeds I found at my local feed store, so I went on Amazon.com and ordered this stuff called "Gamebird/Showbird Complete Crumbles" made by MannaPro. It claims to be good for a variety of birds, including ducks. However it's a bit high in protein, 24% according to the label, so I'll probably start mixing it with something else to lower their overall protein intake. (Haven't decided what yet.)
Since I have 2 cats, at first I thought I would need to keep the brooder in a closet or some other small room I could lock the cats out of. But eventually I came up with this solution, and put the entire breeder inside of a large dog kennel.
Since that pic was taken, I have covered the top of the kennel with clear contact paper, sticky side up, to discourage the cats from hanging out on top of the kennel and possibly terorrizing the little ducklings. So far, that's working pretty well.
When my local post office called me at around 5 am this morning to tell me "we have birdies for you", I rushed over right away and picked them up. The postal worker handed me this small box, and to my delight the box was peeping! I could hear a chorus of 3 distinct voices peeping simultaneously, which quelled my worry that one of the ducklings may not have survived the trip. Here is the little box they were shipped in.
Here was my first glimpse of them when I opened the box. The white thing the ducklings are snuggled up on is a disposable heating pad, it felt like it contained some kind of gel, and it was still warm when I opened the box.
When I put them in the brooder, they started drinking and eating right away, hopefully that means they are healthy. I ended up lowering the lamp down about 1-1/2 inches to raise the temperature up a bit, and I think that made them happy. Those little girls sure are messy! I have had to refill the waterer twice already, since they've splashed most of it out into the pan below.
They are such adorable little ducklings. My kids of course are just thrilled, especially since I promised them they can each name one of the ducks. Now I get to start building a coop and a run in the back yard. I'll post pics of that venture as I progress.
