We have our duck brooder in the kitchen, with 2 ducklings that are about 1.5 weeks old. My husband cooked steak two nights ago onto the stove top. We use a cast iron pan designed to char steaks. So he was working on getting them nice and brown smoking up the entire kitchen. The ducklings noticed the smoke and freaked out totally screaming their lungs out. They must have thought the kitchen is on fire. Poor little things. We opened all the windows to get the smoke out, and that calmed them down.
Today we've decided to take Sunshine and Shadow outside for their first time. Temperature is only 65 and it was windy, but sunny. Both ducklings are rather large, Saxony ducks, so we were sure it would be fine. We did put them into the pen they will occupy once older. They had a blast eating everything and anything. Plus I had them follow me around by calling them. They have been running circle in the brooder for days now, so it must have been fun getting more space doing this. I only allowed 30 minutes of outdoor time because it was kind of windy.
They are pampered little suckers. Swimming in the bathtub each morning since day 4, with 4 dogs watching. This is followed by a clean brooder box, and fresh corn and peas as a treat. Today I even stopped mashing them up. They are quite capable of doing it themselves. I'm so proud of their accomplishments at only 1.5 weeks of age.
Sunshine and Shadow are the names I've given them. Don't know their sex yet, but one is a little bit darker in color (feathers, bill, and feet) so I named it Shadow. Sunshine is a tiny bit smaller, so I think it may be a girl. If not we can always change the name to Sunny.
Katharina
Today we've decided to take Sunshine and Shadow outside for their first time. Temperature is only 65 and it was windy, but sunny. Both ducklings are rather large, Saxony ducks, so we were sure it would be fine. We did put them into the pen they will occupy once older. They had a blast eating everything and anything. Plus I had them follow me around by calling them. They have been running circle in the brooder for days now, so it must have been fun getting more space doing this. I only allowed 30 minutes of outdoor time because it was kind of windy.
They are pampered little suckers. Swimming in the bathtub each morning since day 4, with 4 dogs watching. This is followed by a clean brooder box, and fresh corn and peas as a treat. Today I even stopped mashing them up. They are quite capable of doing it themselves. I'm so proud of their accomplishments at only 1.5 weeks of age.
Sunshine and Shadow are the names I've given them. Don't know their sex yet, but one is a little bit darker in color (feathers, bill, and feet) so I named it Shadow. Sunshine is a tiny bit smaller, so I think it may be a girl. If not we can always change the name to Sunny.
Katharina
Last edited:
