Hot Ducks- what can I do?

[zooweemama]

My ducklings are almost 3 weeks old. The ambient temp in my home has been around 72 or so. Outside it has been low 60s and raining- kinda icky. The past 3 days have been really nice mid to upper 80s. The house had gotten around 81 and the ducks became rather warm so I let them frolic for about 10 minutes in their pool outside then brought them in. By the time they came in I had the temp down to 78 (turned a/c on). They were fine for about an hour- fluffing themselves up, grooming themselves, then eating a bit- now that they are ALL dry, fed, fluffed up most of them are panting. Especially my Pekins. I turned the temp to 76 and the smaller ones stopped panting but 1 of the bigger black ones and all 4 of the Pekins- still panting. I honestly do not know what to do for them? My electric bill is $800+ a month withOUT the a/c turned on. I can't afford to force it to stay 70/72.

What can I do for my little hotties?

Ope and the temp is now about 75 (my a/c takes it a degree under what i set to and doesn't kick back on until it hits a degree over. weird). So now that it's a wee cooler- 2 Pekins stopped panting but the two biggest ones- STILL panting and so is the larger black one.

And a secondary question- until they are 8 weeks old- they are going to have to stay in their coop (really a large one room duck house) full time. It is going to be hot out there in the day time- they do not have a run. Any suggestions? If they are hot at 78/76- they are going to die when the temps hit 90 until they get old enough to be let loose on the pond (it will be 100+ by that time).

Thanks!

 

[nickie]

If I remember a post of yours I read you have all of them in plastic totes, correct? Those things get stuffy and hot, plus they don't allow much air circulation. Do you have something a bit more open to put them in?

Why do they have to be locked in a coop for a time? Can you construct a temporary run for them to allow outside play while limiting access to the pond?

Oh, can we see some pics of these little guys?

 

[zooweemama]

If I remember a post of yours I read you have all of them in plastic totes, correct? Those things get stuffy and hot, plus they don't allow much air circulation. Do you have something a bit more open to put them in?
Why do they have to be locked in a coop for a time? Can you construct a temporary run for them to allow outside play while limiting access to the pond?
Oh, can we see some pics of these little guys?

Yes, plastic totes. They move tomorrow. Because of the annoying fluctuating spring weather- we had to fiddle with our coop setup a bit. We have a neighborhood cat that hunts large birds, rats, mice, squirrel etc and eats them. He will easily scale anything to get in there if he wants. He is a large house cat. We have a rottweiler that is 8 years old and has never seen a duck. So I am not sure what kind of a 'temporary' run we could fashion that the cat couldn't break into? Or the dog bark and scare the poo out of them while he gets adjusted to their presence. Does anyone have pictures of a 'temporary' run to give us an idea?

 

[zooweemama]

Since they don't have their feathers- I was told they shouldn't be allowed on the pond. So I assumed they needed to wait until they were about 8 weeks old right? So I thought I had to keep the confined somewhat. They are almost 3 weeks old now. By the time they are 8 weeks old it will be hot here. I apologize for my ignorance- I am still working my way through some of this.

 

[nickie]

You are correct, free access to water at a young age cam prove deadly. I have used the plastic harden fence for temporary situations in the past. It's ugly as sin and not at all predator proof but keeps ducks in unless you have a houdini.

 

[nickie]

Ok, please, this autocorrect thing is killing me tonight. I'm tired and I can't go back and edit half my post because I sound like a drunk lunatic. I'm sorry. I will try to be a bit more clear tomorrow.

 

[zooweemama]

Ok, please, this autocorrect thing is killing me tonight. I'm tired and I can't go back and edit half my post because I sound like a drunk lunatic. I'm sorry. I will try to be a bit more clear tomorrow.

Oh geez. Auto correct and I have a love/hate relationship. LOL

Do you mean that ugly orange stuff used on construction sites? I think even though it will be warm outside they might fare much better because there IS excellent air circulation in their duck house. Plus room to move around much more freely. There is room to put a fan in there (it's a tall house) for them - I wonder if that would be ok? We have a lot of large birds around here (LOTS of hawks)- would they find the ducklings yummy? :|

 

[zooweemama]

Woohoo down to 2 panters. And they aren't doing it with their mouths open. House set to 74 (which really means it's likely about 76 or so by them). I thought when they got warm they'd spread out to cool off but they all still insist on a football huddle- mine almost never does. go figure.

 

[Chicken Crazy12]

You could freeze a pop bottle filled with water and place it in the tub with them. If they are hot they will go to the cool side and if not they will stay on the warm side. Obviousley not heat lamp if they are getting this hot. When they are older just make sure they have plenty of air circulation in the coop and you can freeze gallon jugs with water to place out in the coop should they need to cool themselves.

Just a thought for those with hot weather

 

[Missy60]

Wow I didn't think in the 70's would be to hot for the babies...weren't they just using the heat lamp? I don't think I would put the fan blowing on them, because my babies are around the same age and they get chilled really fast. My duckling are three weeks old and we still have the light on and they lay right under it. They have a really long cage so they can move away from the light if they want to. We bought a starter kit and it had rolled up cardboard to set up as a pen, we just put ours in that when we are outside with them. They don't try to get out or bang against it, for now, we are going to have to come up with some other plan, but for now we like them close to us. We have a duck pen that's usually empty during the day so when they get bigger they can hang out there. I'm really sorry you seem to be having every problem imaginable with your babies.