How cold is too cold for goslings outside?

[Yetti]

Its about 48*F here this morning and the wind is blowing. the goslings thinks its fun to make me chase them in the yard. I put them in their pen for about 1/2 an hour and let them forage. then I talked them into the duck hut where the heat lamp is and its about 70* and no wind. with week old's how well do they do in colder weather without the extra heat? they don't act like they want to go in but as with all kids I tend to wonder if they need more attention then they want.

 

[DuckDuckDuckGoose]

Quote:
Yetti-

My Gos. is 15days and I had him since he was 6days old. I have never had him under a heatlamp, but he has been in the house with a very warm fireplace pumpin heat. Its generally 80-85deg. in my house consistantly. My advice to keep them out at a week old with now heat is not too good of an idea. but thats me. They cannot regulate their own body temp. til their about 2 wks. old. The mommy does this for them when she sits on them to warm their core temp. up.
I will have him in the house til he is 21 days old, and re-assess to make the decision to put him out in the run permently. He does have duck buddies out there too. I have a Khaki Campbell duckling that is in here with him cause they are the same age. The other ducks that are out, are Pekin's they were born April 1st. and I put them out at a mo. old. Now i bring the babies out to see them a few times a day (short increments of time out) so the pekin's can accept them when it is time for them to be out permently. I hope any part of this can help you in some way. Hope all goes well.
Thanks,
T.

 

[Yetti]

I originally raised the ducks in the basement while we still had freezing temps here. the fact they grew so quick off set the poop output in the house. I figured since its been above 45-50 at night I would just keep them in the barn. the concrete is really warm at night so it gives off a ton of heat as the sun goes down. the huge fish tank the little ones are in will be replaced by a kiddy pool next week when they are just to big for it any more. ( hard to believe they can't fit in a 55 gallon aquarium). as is I have been monitoring floor temp in the barn and making sure its not to cold. the ducks stay in the 8'x6' pen on wheels and they do well with it. plus its easy to clean.
I have a 4'x6' bus stop house I converted to a Duck house/hut. its got a insulated roof and walls and is like a little green house. its 60-70 in there right now with clouds and rain with just a heat lamp running. plus I think I came up with an answer for the forage issue vs. rain. I took a couple flats out behind the barn and dug out two flats worth of clover and grass. just used the flat shovel to scoop them in and now they have dinner to order! I figure all that will be left is dirt in a little while. they will eat the rest.

 

[DuckDuckDuckGoose]

Yetti-
I think that if it is fairly comfortable, the ducks will be fine. If they get cold they just cuddle up together. The instinct in them is amazing! Today it is pouring down rain and about 47-52deg. its chilly, but I took the babies out to see the Pekin's anyway even though I dont have waterproof feathers to protect ME from the rain lol. I put my raincoat on. When I took them out the pekin's were on the other side of the yard and quickly joined us for a forage fest! WATCH OUT SLUGS, HERE WE COME!

We stayed out for about as long as I could stand it (half hr. or so)(Rain just soaking me) and they had alot of fun! so did I watchin them. Such entertainment!
I think that your set-up sound fine. I always say "Don't fix it if its not broke!"

I just watch them closely to make sure no one is havin any problems. If something comes up, im going to handle it how I see fit. It always........IS what it IS.

Thanks,
T.

 

[Yetti]

well I caved. the wife asked if it was going to get too cold for the little guys. its supposed to go down to 37* tonight. they are on my work bench in the basement right now..all cuddly and warm.

here's a video the wife made yesterday of them "zooming" acrossed the driveway.

 

[Yetti]

well of all the dirty bugger. one of My ducks attacked my goslings this evening. I no sooner got home from my sons track meet and the goslings wanted out of the hut to forage. they hadn't gone 3 feet out from it when the ducks came poking around. I was busy refilling waterers and getting things read for the evening. I was watching the interaction of the ducks and the small one I believe is the female was getting really close to a couple of the goslings. all of sudden she shot her beak forward and blew it off its feet!. before I could move the bugger dashed the legs out from under another one. by then I was hot on her tail. she ran around in a circle with me in hot pursuit. as she rejoined the group of six they high tailed it to the barn for the night. they dove into the pen and stayed there while I finished filling water cans. I checked the goslings and don't see any injuries but I now know the ducks are very competitive and not friendly towards the geese as of yet.

 

[DuckDuckDuckGoose]

Hi ya'll in this thread-
Well Yetti your day kinda parallels mine, but the gos. or duckling hasn't gotten it yet from the Pekins, but the pekins follow us around to each area of the yard. They have chased the gos/dk a few times but not in a agressive way, more so, in a dominance way. We go to a certain spot, the pekins follow and try to take over the spot from the babies, so I just let her know in a dominate way(their body language) and let her know that they need to go to a different spot and they usually move over to the spot 10 ft. over and just mud suck and keep their eyes on the babies. I walk away from the babies a little way when they are grazing and kinda let the pekins know that they can inspect, but not hurt the babies. There may be a incident or two, but those babies are fast and I think they will grow bigger before the pekins can hurt them. They may get a feather bent out of shape but not gonna hurt em or kill em.
I was so entertained by all of them today, that before I knew it I had been outside, in the rain, did all my chores and laughed the whole time!!!

My husband and I were talkin about puttin a partition (hardware cloth,see thru wire type) in the duck shed to keep them seperate when their in nightly lockdown until the babies are a little bit bigger to avoid attacks. Then after awhile we will just take the partition out and they will have the whole space together.
So that's my plan.
T.