Happy Mother’s Day. Im going to try to take my ducklings into the garden and back today..yikes

[Katicorn]

Tomorrow my ducklings will be three weeks old. They’re huge and so is their poop and water messes in the kiddie pool brooder.

Im going to try to get them through the garage and into the garden on foot, follow the leader with treats, to a bigger kiddie pool to swim in and lots of sunshine and garden to play and poop in.

IM TOTALLY NERVOUS about getting them back into the garage and into the brooder. I mean..what if I can’t? They seem to like me, greet me, not be afraid of me except when I have to pick them up.

Fingers Crossed. When it hits 72, I’m going for it.

Any tips about recollecting them are happily taken!

 

[sloanbychoice]

Good luck!!
My little ducklings aren’t that old yet, so I had to put them in a box yesterday to carry them out to do work on my coop.
i can’t wait until they’re old enough to follow!!
These are my first.

 

[Katicorn]

Well, I chickend out and carried them in a box again out to the new kiddie pool,surrounded by the pen. I figure I need to get them excited about the pool, which can be seen from the garage door,first.

Im glad I was such a whimp, because within 10 minutes of being out there, a hawk started circling. I stood up and waved my hands and yelled, he finally left. The ducklings knew what it was. About 5 minutes later, I heard tons of crows headed toward us cackling...and as they went over head, the hawk was right in front of them about 20 feet above us, with the crows in hot pursuit.

This will be a problem. I wanted them to free range that garden, not live in a shaded duck run their whole life.

But at least the got some sun and swimmie time with bonus drama.

 

[Katicorn]

I’ve yet been brave enough to let them loose in the yard. They are a month old now, and the box with all five of them is getting pretty heavy to carry out to the penned kiddie pool I have outside for swim time. I guess I’m just a big chicken, but I have huge anxiety that I’ll never get them back in the garage again, much less the brooder. Worse case scenerio I might be able to get them down into the run that we enclosed, but its a good distance from the garage.

Ugh. I’ve got 2 weeks to get them trained for the run before we leave on vacation and have a duck sitter. I guess I just need to get my girl on and get it done.Yikes.

 

[Dux]

I’ve yet been brave enough to let them loose in the yard. They are a month old now, and the box with all five of them is getting pretty heavy to carry out to the penned kiddie pool I have outside for swim time. I guess I’m just a big chicken, but I have huge anxiety that I’ll never get them back in the garage again, much less the brooder. Worse case scenerio I might be able to get them down into the run that we enclosed, but its a good distance from the garage.

Ugh. I’ve got 2 weeks to get them trained for the run before we leave on vacation and have a duck sitter. I guess I just need to get my girl on and get it done.Yikes.

I remember that feeling. Now I’d be much more concerned about the hawk than about them running away. A couple of ideas to help with your worries about directing them. 1) Enlist another person to help the first couple of times. 2). Get a couple of long sticks (4ish feet) that you can hold in each hand to create a funnel as you walk behind them. Good luck!

 

[Katicorn]

Hawks and buzzardS while I cant catch them. Ugh.

New game plan. Im going ahead and putting the bedding in the run. I need to force their feathers a little anyway. The highs are in the mid-60s but they need to be outside in 2 weeks.

The run is HUGE. 50x12. Under the deck run, the the roof is definitely predator proof. So its a good controlled experiment so to speak. I’ll post pictures later.

 

[Katicorn]

The water spigot was just installed. We still need to set up the automatic waterer and build a ramp up to the duck house. There’s little stone wall they need help with. We have wicked storms up here, and a lot of predators, so this seemed like the best place. It will have to be cleaned constantly so we aren’t stinked off our deck

They seem a little stunned with the space. Hoping we can do this daily so the consider it home soon.

 

[Dux]

The water spigot was just installed. We still need to set up the automatic waterer and build a ramp up to the duck house. There’s little stone wall they need help with. We have wicked storms up here, and a lot of predators, so this seemed like the best place. It will have to be cleaned constantly so we aren’t stinked off our deck

They seem a little stunned with the space. Hoping we can do this daily so the consider it home soon.

They're adorable and your set-up is super pretty - I really like the wood lattice and the stone wall. Even if they're in there all the time during a cold winter, the amount of space seems good: my 3 gals (formerly 4) have a 16' x 32' run (plus 4'x8' indoor area which they ignore, except in extremely cold weather when I have to remind them it exists by luring them in there repeatedly with treats). The cleanliness of the run wasn't toooo bad using the deep bedding method with pine shavings, even over the winter. In above freezing temperatures I move them to a duck tractor for the majority of each day so they get fresh grass/weeds and the ground in their run gets a break. In hot weather your ducks are going to love having good shade.

 

[Katicorn]

Im going try to use the Sweet PDZ horse stall refresher to help some with the smell. Also I think we’re going to try to combine wheat straw and pine shavings. Straw is easy and cheap to get locally. The only pine shavings we can buy (not in massive bulk) is from Tractor Supply.They are all about 90 minutes round trip away.
I might have to look into the tractor idea.I do intend to be in the garden when they forage, but the vultures/raptors are insistent. But for the week we are gone, they should be fine in this run. They’ve been brooding in a garage, so its more light than they’ve gotten so far in life.