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.
