First time Ducky Daddy

[Miss Lydia]

Gryeyes, that is Awesome! I just looked up the [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Brinsea EcoGlow brooder, and if I had known that existed I would have got one from the beginning. But I probably will not need one again for awhile, unless I decide I want additional ducks. Right now, I am thinking 3 will be enough for me. Thanks for the info.[/FONT]

each week you need to lower the temp in your brooder by 5* so if it's at 85 which is good for first week then next week when they are 7days old it should be 80 in their brooder and 75 next week and so on till they don't need heat anymore. one thing you don't want is to over heat them. They are so cute,

 

[earltheman]

Today is day 7 of my duckling experience. The little girls are now exactly 8 days old. They have grown so much, they no longer look like little balls of fluff, but instead they look like small ducks. I still can’t really tell the difference between them, except one of them has a little white spot on her chest which I can see if I look from just the right angle. And one of the girls is definitely more talkative than the other 2, we’ve named her Olivia. I want to get each one used to hearing her own name. So to help identify them, I plan to put a different tiny colored zip-tie band loosely on each one’s leg, until they grow to a point where I can visually tell the difference between them.

They are out-growing their current brooder faster than I anticipated, I think I can get at most another week out of it. I’m still working on convincing my wife to let me convert the kennel into a large indoor brooder. If I am not successful in that, they will be moving out into the garage to a 6' diameter kiddy pool. I’ve been monitoring the garage temperate for the past 3 weeks, and it never gets below 67 degrees, so I think they will be ok with the heat lamp. But I would still prefer to keep them inside where it’s easier to see them frequently. I’ll keep working on the wife...

Today I will be getting them a new food dish, since they are now emptying the current one every 4 or 5 hours. I am also going to need a new waterer, for the same reason. I am seriously considering buying a tub of coolwhip, just to empty it out and use the container as a waterer like I’ve seen elsewhere on this forum. Seems wasteful – maybe I can empty it into a tupperware so it won’t all go to waste.

Here are a few pics, taken Sunday and Monday. It really is fun watching them grow. When we put them out to play on the kitchen floor, they always do everything together, and they protest greatly if I separate any one of them from the others. And I forgot to mention, they like it when I quack at them. Which is really funny to me, since I know my quacking sounds nothing like a real duck. But apparently it is close enough that they find it comforting, they start to approach me whenever I quack at them.

 

[gryeyes]

Today is day 7 of my duckling experience. The little girls are now exactly 8 days old. They have grown so much, they no longer look like little balls of fluff, but instead they look like small ducks. They are out-growing their current brooder faster than I anticipated,I think I can get at most another week out of it. Today I will be getting them a new food dish, since they are now emptying the current one every 4 or 5 hours. I am also going to need a new waterer, for the same reason. I am seriously considering buying a tub of coolwhip, just to empty it out and use the container as a waterer like I’ve seen elsewhere on this forum. Seems wasteful – maybe I can empty it into a tupperware so it won’t all go to waste.

yup. Fuzzy ducks. They do put all their early growing energy into body mass rather than feather growth as do chicks. They are visibly larger each day - simply amazing. Ummmm. Uh, I did buy a tub o'Cool Whip and gave it to a friend with a husband and teenager with the instruction to make lots of dessert stuff and hand them spoons so I could get the tub within a day or two.

 

[earltheman]

Also, forgot to mention, not only have the ducklings about doubled in size, the amount of poop they create has also doubled (or possibly tripled or quadrupled). Both in size, and I think maybe even in frequency.

 

[MimiEggs]

I'm cracking up earthman, how many people posted how "fast" ducklings grow? LOL, okay you made it past week 1, guess what? Now they will seem to double in size "every day". My first set of ducklings freaked me out with the growth rate, all I could think was "geez, that's gotta hurt to grow so fast".

Using the entire kennel is not like it's taking up any more room in the house than it already is, you're just wanting to utilize the whole thing instead of some of the space going to waste. Perhaps if you promise to make sure no duck poop or water gets on the outside of the kennel she will comply with your request. Plus it will just be for a couple of weeks as they will outgrow that as well. Then again a kiddie pool in the garage isn't that bad of an idea as long as they have somewhere to go for some warmth until spring really gets here. Just make sure it's tall enough they can't jump out.

I'm sure the company you got the ducklings from said those green duck bands would "break and fall of on their own", however they don't always do that and you might want to try getting them off yourself very soon. One of my current ducklings grew so fast that band appeared to be cutting into her leg so we had to carefully cut the thing off on day 10. Please be very cautious with whatever method you use to identify your babies as they do grow so rapidly. Perhaps you could start a new thread on duck banding and see what other folks have used successfully.

Love the pictures!

 

[rubberduckies]

Hey there! I love how you keep updating this. I got my first ducks 3 weeks ago. 2 Indian Runners, 2 Rouens, and 1 Pekin. I was not expecting them to be so messy either. I mean, I read that they were really messy, but I didn't understand. And the older they get, the messier they get.

If you haven't removed their leg markers you probably should. I marked my only boy with a small zip tie but removed it after only a few days because he grew so fast. (I can tell him apart now by size and bill color). If you do mark them with zip ties you will have to change them every few days. I've heard of people marking their ducklings by painting their toenails. Since you only have three that might be an easy option for you?? (Might be fun for the kids to pick out who gets which color).

Here's what I did for a brooder... I got a big cardboard box and lined it with one of those cheap tablecloths you can get at Walmart or party stores. (I think they're like 98 cents). I rolled a peice of duct tape so that the sticky part is on the outside and stuck the ends together then put a piece like that in every corner of the floor. That helps hold the tablecloth in place. Then I pulled the rest of the tablecloth up over the sides and duct taped it all around the outside. That keeps the cardboard from getting soggy. They splash water and poop EVERYWHERE. Then I cover the bottom in pine shavings. It works great. You could do that with a box that's almost as big around as your kennel but just small enough to fit inside. And with only having 3 it might last a little longer than mine. Mine have outgrown their's and will need a bigger box this week. While your ducklings are still inside you should start planning (building/buying) their house/enclosure for outside. (Assuming that's where they'll be going). The time will come before you know it.

 

[DeckDuck]

The pictures on this thread are wonderful. Please keep it up!

I'm raising two ducklings of my own right now and even though I knew exactly how fast they would be growing it's hard to believe. They're three weeks old now and are just gigantic. One is even quacking already!

 

[earltheman]

Thanks, Mimieggs & Rubberduckies, I actually removed the Metzer Farms legbands 3 days ago. They had told me they'd fall off on their own, but I did it anyway out of an abundance of caution.

I have now received permission to convert the kennel into a large brooder, on an "experimental basis." The determining factor will be whether or not I can keep any aromas to a minimum, and whether I can keep the extreme amount of duck poo confined to the kennel/brooder. However now that I am witnessing the extent of their messiness at this early age, I am not as confident that I can do that. I am considering that Rubberduckies' box idea might be a much better way to go.

My original plan was inspired by some of the pictures in this BYC article on Duclking Care and Brooders. I was planning to line the bottom of the kennel, and the lower 6 inches or so of the sides, with plastic, to contain the straw and waste. The feeder and waterer would be in a large plastic tub in a corner of the kennel with an entry cut in the side. I would cover the outside of the kennel with hardware cloth, to keep my cats from messing with the ducks. But now I am wondering if that arrangement would be sufficient to contain all the flung poo...

 

[gryeyes]

Deep litter. Confine the waterer to one corner, inside a low-edged baking tray so more of the water stays there than gets spilled or splashed into the pine shavings. But you should be able to remove and replace the wet shavings from that end or corner of the brooder space.

Really. Deep litter will help with the odors.

 

[DeckDuck]

I tried to keep a grown duck in a dog kennel overnight before and the results were, well, far reaching.

Have you seen how far ducks can launch their poop? Thank goodness he was in the garage! I never tried it with something to line the sides, but you might try putting the whole operation in the bath tub if that becomes a problem.