Hoping someone can point me in the right direction!!!

[Mrs.HENderson]

So, I have decided to go full force in this outside animal kingdom lol

. I have some questions will both my chickens and my ducks. Hope I can get my head uncluttered, I'm all sorts of confused. I do have the Raising Chickens for Dummies book, and I just ordered 2 other books last night from Amazon.com but they wont b here for another week or so.

so I figured this is the best place to go to get information or opinions!!!

My first question is..... I have my chickens outside, they had there second night out there last night. I had brought them in Saturday cuz the temps that night dropped down well past 35 so I didn't want them to freeze. Any how. The 2 times we left them out we put them in the coop, we are afraid that they wouldn't for some reason go into the coop. Will they go in the coop if they get too cold?? They should know how to go up n down the ramp right?? I just don't wanna assume and find them freezing outside the next morning. For an example, it is raining out right now and I checked on them and they are under the coop. Is that ok?? Or do I need to catch them and put them in the coop?? Its not down pouring its just a gentle rain.

As you can c in the picture there is plenty of room for them, maybe the ramp is too narrow. I dont know lol

These are my babies

, I am a very nervous mommy. I just want to make everything perfect n safe for them!!!

And on for my second question, this is regarding my 10 day old Pekin Ducklings. We bought these lil guys ( not actually sure they are guys or girls LOL) on Saturday. We hadn't let them stay out all night yet, like right now they r in the brooder cuz its rainy and the temp is in the lower 50's. When can we actually put them out and let them have run of the kennel?? Again I don't want to hurt them, they r so precious, just as the chickens.

Here is a pic of the Pekins! I just wish I had all the answers so I know whats right and whats wrong for the ducks n the chickens. What can we feed the ducklings?? I did read that they cant have popcorn or bread, but the chickens can eat the popcorn, right LOL. I am sorry if this is a very long post. I just wanna understand all there is to!!!

Thank you for taking your time in reading and maybe even responding to my post. Everything will be appreciated!!!!!

 

[chickboss]

For your chicks, I would check on them and if they are not in the coop come night fall, put them in. After a little bit, if they don't get it right away, they will start to go in on their own. I think your ramp looks great! I could see why, from their perspective hanging out under the coop seems like a good idea. Maybe if they won't go in to the coop, but choose to hang out undernieth instead you could block it off for awhile until they are in the habbit of going in. My younger chicks used to pop in and out during a light rain, and sometimes would just hang out outside. They went in when they were done, didn't stop me from wondering if they were really okay though. LOL.

As far as letting the ducklings outside during the night lots of people have different ideas as to when is the right time. They are hardier than chicks. I am about to put my 10 Muscovies outside and they just turned 5 weeks old. They have been sleeping by an open window with out a heat lamp and have been quite happy. I am in Oregon, so it isn't exactly warm here, but not freezing anymore either.

There is a sticky at the top of the duck page for duck treats, it is very helpful. You can use chick started, just make sure it is un-medicated because that can be harmful. They will need xtra Niacin, I like Brewer's Yeast for this sprinkled on top of their feed.

Hope this helps. Beautiful chicks and ducklings! Congratualtions, they are so much fun!

 

[newchickmom09]

First

and this is a great place for answers.

For your chickens, inside of the coop do you have rooting poles for them to sleep on? Since they are little put low enough for them to jump up on, maybe 2 feet off of the ground. Chickens like sleeping on pole not on the ground so if there isn't poles try that. Next the ramp might be a little steep but it doesn't look that bad from the pics. You could try putting an edge on the ramp so they don't feel like they are going to walk off the edge. (chickens aren't the brightest

) At night if they don't go into the coop then pick them up after dark and place them on the roosting poles. Adventualy they will get the hint. My chickens stand out in the rain or go under there nesting boxes, they don't go in anything.

For your ducks if the weather warms up a bit I would say put them out at 4 weeks old. My two ducks were outside at 1 and 3 weeks old but it was also 80 degrees during the day. You can feed them the same thing you feed your chickens. If the chick starter feed is medicated then make sure the medication is amprolium and that will be fine to feed to the ducklings. Amprolium is the only medication that is safe for ducklings that they put in starter feed. After that you can feed them grower feed until they start to lay. Or you can feed them flock raiser feed ment for all fowl/poutlry. Chicken food is what I raised mine on, I just made sure to give the ducklings peas or some dark greens everyday.

I wouldn't feed them popcorn or any junk food until they got older. You want them getting all there nutrients from there feed. It is like if you give kids cookies before dinner then expect them to want to eat the good food.