Hatching in winter

[CindyinSD]

Baby waterfowl have to be kept in the warm until fully feathered, are seriously messy and stinky-poo, and are a lot happier outside. I incubated & hatched some earlier this year, expecting spring to come (it didn’t). They stayed in the garage a long time. I wouldn’t recommend it.

 

[CindyinSD]

Although I’m very pleased with my four cute little drakes.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

I just raised some in my kitchen. There are steps you can take to keep.The mess down. Raising on puppy pee pads makes for easy cleaning and using a Tupperware with a hole cut in the lid after the first week cute down on the mess. I kept them in for four weeks and by that time I was ready for them to go to the barn. We all enjoyed watching each other.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

On also if you can get Mazuri starter it's much less stinky. Pricey but muuuch less stinky than flock raiser.

 

[Texag87]

I just raised some in my kitchen. There are steps you can take to keep.The mess down. Raising on puppy pee pads makes for easy cleaning and using a Tupperware with a hole cut in the lid after the first week cute down on the mess. I kept them in for four weeks and by that time I was ready for them to go to the barn. We all enjoyed watching each other.

A dozen muttling eggs in the egg tree........hint hint

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Hmmm my dh would be very unhappy. Maybe after the holidays.

 

[CindyinSD]

I had mine in a 6’ long galvanized stock tank by the time the weather warmed up. Towards the end it was getting pretty awful. They were getting way too crowded, but we had our last big blizzard on May 20th and the stock tank was the best I could do for them.

A couple weeks later I hardened them off and put them out with the chicks and poults and they were ecstatic. (So was I.)

Ducks are a lot tougher than chickens, but ducklings are much more tender. They keep the down longer (or my Welshies did) than either chickens or turkeys and downy feathers don’t do a lot to keep them warm.

If you’re sure you want to do this, look up duckling waterers. People have created many innovative solutions to the icky waterer problem. They can use the same feeders you’d use for chicks, etc.

You can use a brooder light to keep them warm. I used a mama hen heating pad (heating pad with auto-off disabled, stiffened by hardware cloth, wrapped & taped inside a waterproof feed bag, bent into a tunnel shape). You can also use an infrared brooding plate. If you use a brooder light, you can, if you like, put a ceramic reptile heat bulb in it to keep them from being illuminated 24-7.

For bedding I used deep pine shavings (I started with a whole bale then added a layer a couple times a day until I changed them out all together, but words cannot describe the quantities of wet poo created by four small duckies. You’ll just have to change out the bedding frequently. This is later of course... they’re not like that when they’re itty-bitties. They’re drop-dead adorable, but then they’re drop-dead adorable in warm weather, too.

 

[KitKatNB]

What I'm getting is I should keep them warm until they get their adult feathers and a re able to produce their own waterproof oils?

 

[DuckyDonna]

Any tips for that? I'm totally new to this and have never brooded ducklings before.

@Miss Lydia lets her muscovies hatch her eggs but I think then she takes them to the house to brood. Tomorrow I'm sure she will have some great advice for you.

 

[KitKatNB]

Thank you!