OCeggs23
Songster
Hi!
We have raised baby chicks and went to the feed store for more chicken supplies. Saw some ducklings and well... apparently chicken math includes ducks too!
The store said they are about 2.5 weeks old. Would you guess that's about right?
No idea what sex or breed - guesses there would be appreciated too!
My main concerns now are food and water and shelter. We brought them in the house and put them in our chick brooder box. We used the Mama Heating Pad method for heat for chicks, so we are trying that for the ducks as well. Took them some time running around the box, but I finally got them to relax and rest/warm up on the pad. Which they have now (5 min later) abandoned.
The feed store had the ducklings in a pen with no water. When I expressed my concern, the owner said the ducks would drink non-stop and kill themselves, so they only give them water every 2 hours. I thought this was strange since they are WATERFOWL. After reading, it turns out ducklings do this when they have been denied water and it suddenly reappears. So when we brought them home we gave them food and water - which they went crazy on - and kept refilling hoping they would eventually stop. But they didn't and seemed obsessive, so eventually we removed it.
I dont want to perpetuate the cycle - how can I wean them back yo having food and water available 24/7?
We also want to be able to put them outside with our four pullets (almost 8 weeks old). We have a large enclosed space and there is electricity to the coop, so we plan to have the heating pad plugged in there. We live in Southern California... temps in the low 70s daytime, low 50s nighttime. When can we introduce them to the run/coop?
Any and all help is very appreciated! Thank you!!
We have raised baby chicks and went to the feed store for more chicken supplies. Saw some ducklings and well... apparently chicken math includes ducks too!
The store said they are about 2.5 weeks old. Would you guess that's about right?
No idea what sex or breed - guesses there would be appreciated too!
My main concerns now are food and water and shelter. We brought them in the house and put them in our chick brooder box. We used the Mama Heating Pad method for heat for chicks, so we are trying that for the ducks as well. Took them some time running around the box, but I finally got them to relax and rest/warm up on the pad. Which they have now (5 min later) abandoned.
The feed store had the ducklings in a pen with no water. When I expressed my concern, the owner said the ducks would drink non-stop and kill themselves, so they only give them water every 2 hours. I thought this was strange since they are WATERFOWL. After reading, it turns out ducklings do this when they have been denied water and it suddenly reappears. So when we brought them home we gave them food and water - which they went crazy on - and kept refilling hoping they would eventually stop. But they didn't and seemed obsessive, so eventually we removed it.
I dont want to perpetuate the cycle - how can I wean them back yo having food and water available 24/7?
We also want to be able to put them outside with our four pullets (almost 8 weeks old). We have a large enclosed space and there is electricity to the coop, so we plan to have the heating pad plugged in there. We live in Southern California... temps in the low 70s daytime, low 50s nighttime. When can we introduce them to the run/coop?
Any and all help is very appreciated! Thank you!!
For breeds, I would say Pekin left, possibly Rouen on the right? Do you know what breeds the store carries? As for gender, females quack, while drakes make a noise like Donald Duck. You can tell by voice sexing when they are, what, 6-8 weeks? Im no expert, so please check my answers against someone else. 
