I recently got 2 ducklings, and need any advice I can get. How much room do they need for an enclosure, and how much room to swim? I was thinking of either getting 2 of the smallest kiddie pools or one of the medium ones. Which do you think would be best? Do they lay eggs in nests or just anywhere? How often should i empty and refill their pools? Is it okay to just feed them poultry food like my chickens? What other kind of food do they like, and any toxic plants I should be aware of? How do you get them to be tame or at least tolerant of handling? What kind of sleeping arrangements do they require? How do you keep them from flying out? Pictures of your own ducks, and their enclosure would be great! And anything else you guys can tell me. Lot of questions, but any help is greatly appreciated.
Since no one has answered you and you are in south Alabama and Dauphin Island is my favorite place to vacation at, I will give it a try. First, when you say enclosure how much time to you plan on them spending in it. I have five Khaki Campbells, they are locked into their small enclosure which is attached to their coop at night. During the day they are free in my garden until I get home from work. Then, they get to free range in the backyard until bedtime. They love water and will take as much as you will give them. I started out with a 35 gallon pond liner which I change daily but it is a lot of work. Mine also have a small baby pool and some smaller bowls which are also changed daily. In the south it is good to have some water in the shade to help them cool off. As for food, chick starter is fine if they get extra Niacin otherwise they can develop neurological problems and go lame. The easiest way is to give them Brewer's or Nutritional yeast (not bread yeast) added to their food. They sell it at stores like whole foods by the vitamins. I feed my adult ducks, Duck Breeder pellets, but many people feed layer feed. The extra calcium in layer feed isnt good for drakes. I am not sure I have answered all your questions but I am short on time. There is a lot of information on this site especially in the learning center. There are also several great books like, Storey's guide to Ducks. Hope this helps! PS -My ducks are spoiled! Lots of treats!
cheezenqwackers gave good advice, so I'll try not to be too redundant! I think it's 5 sq. ft. per duck in a coop/house that they spend just the night in. I free range mine when I'm home, so I'm not sure about space in an outside enclosure, but the bigger the better - they're messy! As for water, either set up would be fine. You might want to go with the two small ones if they're in a large area, so you can put them in different spots, but if not, they may like the bigger one better. I refill my duck pool whenever it looks more like chocolate milk than water - or more often, if I have time or if it's been awhile since I changed it. I honestly don't keep track of how often that is, but it's pretty easy to tell when it needs to be dumped and refilled. Tame them by spending lots of time with them and - well, this is what I did anyways - feeding them peas (or other treats) from your hand. They will suddenly get really skittish when they're a few weeks old, but don't get discouraged by that - they'll become tame if you keep spending time with them. Don't be surprised if they never really enjoy being held, though - that's normal! They shouldn't be able to fly out unless you have a mallard. Most breeds are too heavy for that. They won't use nestboxes; most likely, they'll find a favorite corner and make a nice nest to lay in. They like to bury their eggs with bedding, so sometimes you have to dig around a bit! I hope this helps!
Thank you both for the great advice! I can't allow them to free range all day because of my dogs. I don't wanna chance that. I normally allow my chickens to free range a few hours a day into my goat pen. It's large and they just love getting in there to eat grass, scratch around, and take dirt baths. I will probably do the same with the ducks. The fence is only 4 feet high though. Would that be okay? How high should their fence be? The chickens don't fly out because I clip their wings. Good idea with the treats. I'll try to find something they like. Also that's pretty cool! I'm only about an hour from Dauphin Island.
