How do you set up your baby ducks inside the house?

[GaraP21]

I have 14 baby ducks in a tot its a mess !any other ideas how to do less mess cleaning is forever. How long does they need to be inside the house ?I really have no idea .

 

[Miss Lydia]

14 ducklings which is a lot of mess and a lot of cuteness.
I've never had 14 ducklings in my house only 4 at a time and that was messy enough. They will need to be feathered in before moving them outside for good, but on nice days they can go outside for supervised field trips. This was my set up inside 2 dog crates one is xlarge the other large I have also used this for raising chicks. I tie wrap them together and use old window screens for the top.

 

[GaraP21]

wow that is good idea how do you manage the water ?where do you put them?

 

[fatty and friends]

pet playpens are amazing for ducks, just put puppy pads underneath (i use reusable puppy pads under the water, cheaper and absorb more water)

 

[3xhhheather]

@Miss Lydia what's that thing in the front of the image, I'm guessing you put their water bowls on top of it?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes I found it at a thrift store works perfect I keep a pee pad on top of it too.

 

[Miss Lydia]

wow that is good idea how do you manage the water ?where do you put them?

That tray you see in the pic is where food and water sits. Also I found a broiler pan at a thrift store that works too just use pee pads to protect their little webbies.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I use abs pet pens and as the babies grew I added more panels
I put a good tarp down first so nothing including water would leak on the floor
Then I used puppy pads till about 2 weeks. When they start to chew at them I move to shavings
I would section off part of it and put the water abd feed in that area that way I didn’t have wet shavings all over
I would clean the poo and any water mess 3 times a day
I set water bowls in plastic containers and as babies grew I used bigger ones
Cat little boxes at the dollar store work great for catching water spills when they get older
Babies need room to run around and these pet pens give a lot more space then a tote
I bought both types the full ones with no holes for when they are smaller so they can’t get the head through and the other type for when they are older
They had a space to go into where feed and water was with a slight wall between to keep that water mess away from the bedding area
I got mine on Amazon.

 

[Plague]

14 ducklings which is a lot of mess and a lot of cuteness.
I've never had 14 ducklings in my house only 4 at a time and that was messy enough. They will need to be feathered in before moving them outside for good, but on nice days they can go outside for supervised field trips. This was my set up inside 2 dog crates one is xlarge the other large I have also used this for raising chicks. I tie wrap them together and use old window screens for the top. View attachment 3418672

I really like this idea! Never thought of doing that! We always have just used tubs, and I have considered combining them together as they grow we separate them into multiple tubs. When we did last batch where we had 15 at once I just ended up having to add a divider in their permanent house and finish brooding them in there. I was worried since obviously it was setup as a house with a ton of ventilation. And it had already gotten a bit cooler in the evenings as it was around November if I remember correctly last year. So I did go ahead and hang out heat lamp for them when I prefer the plates now, simply because I wasn't sure the plates would keep up with all the ventilation in it, but we had ended up with 5 extra we wasn't counting because of a mistake from the hatchery and they sent extras even, so we was going to need another whole setup or do what I did. Worked out great, although I would find a way to just use my plates next time as they proved to me enough the lamp was overkill. They all made it besides two khaki Campbells, which 14 out of 16 the vet said was really good surviving. Those 2 was sent off to the lab to check them out, to make sure it wasn't something we needed to be concerned with spreading to our adults at the time. They are all flourishing now. We are expecting 3 goslings and 7 Muscovy ducklings in a few weeks, and I am working on a separate outside brooder right now for them, and while they are doing the brooding I will be constructing them their own house. Plus we have the 3 ducklings the boss said we needed lol. Not to mention I am attempting to incubate 9 of our duck eggs. I will be surprised if we end up with 2 of those eggs hatched and to survive with this incubator, but we will see. So yeah going to have even more young ones at once and there is no way going to do it out old way considering those goslings probably going to be so big so quick they would probably need separate brooder from the new ducks, and we want them to be raised with the ducks and not separate. Sorry so long lol. Eye candy attached.

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

I made a brooder out of pine board and stapled plastic tarp to the inside up the sides, then pine shavings, mine was 4x8 and I had 5 ducks, it was plenty big except we had a particularly cold spring and they spent WAY longer inside than anyone wanted. as far as water I had a plastic shoe box size tote type container, I used a hole saw to cut round holes big enough to dunk their heads in but small enough they couldn't climb in and swim. and we scooped poop a lot, salad tongs worked well for that. house kind of smelled like duck no matter what, but we put a lot of effort into it. I do similar in my basement for rehab situations except I just use the dog pen and cardboard underneath with pine shavings. with a cement floor it is not such a big deal.