Help identify Our little ducklings please

[wildangel]

My daughter is in 4-H and we decided to do ducks and chicks this year. So we got these cute lil guys yesterday and we are curious as to what type of ducks they may be.

 

[Sparrow]

Blue Swedish, Black Swedish, Magpie or mayyyybe Ancona.

 

[wildangel]

Thank you! We were hoping to get a good variety so she could show them in our county fair! They are fun but messy little things!

 

[Sparrow]

Ducks are hell on earth to raise, but sooo worth it!

 

[mandelyn]

Swedish (blue and black) and a Magpie. Ancona have more chaos to their markings, while Magpies are more uniform with the black/white. Really pretty once they're feathered in.

The best thing I ever figured out for raising ducklings was elevating their water over a basin covered in hardware cloth. Once they were tall enough to reach it. I took a plastic tote, a shallow one, and cut the whole center out of the top. Bolted on hardware cloth. The size of the tote I used depended on the size of the drinker, aiming for 6 inches of open wire around the drinker. Deep bedding around it to reduce the height. They could splash and play all the wanted and the water fell through to the tote so I could dump it, and the bedding stayed dry.

For babies, I used a paint roller tray with shelf liner (vinyl) along the bottom, the drinker down in the bottom flat part. They figure out the ramp to get to it.

I've seen other people use half of a plastic dog crate, because it has high sides and an entrance.

Pea gravel around all outside water sources dramatically reduces mud. Which reduces stink. Nothing is cuter than a baby duck, and nothing messier either!

 

[wildangel]

We are finding out just how messy they are. More-so with their water at the moment. Poop isn't too bad. Wet bedding on the other hand is. Right now I have one waterer in a frisbie, the other waterer is in a shallow lid. It's working for the moment, but I may try some of the other ideas.

 

[wildangel]

These are what our little gals turned out like.