OK, after several years raising both chickens and turkeys I decided to add ducks to the mix this spring. I have 7 10 day old Pekins in a brooder in the garage. I now understand why folks choose to brood their ducklings in the bathtub! I've been changing and cleaning out their brooder as much as three times a day, but whenever I look back in it is a mess again. I have an arrangement that seems to be working, but I'd like input from the more experienced duck people.
The brooder is a large dog crate that I have extended on one end by adding some pannels from a second dog crate so about 2/3rds of the brooder sits on the big slide-out plastic kennel bottom and 1/3 is floored with empty feed bags. In the 2/3rds with the tray/bottom I layer about 3 or 4 layers of newspaper, covered by a layer of paper towels and a final layer of waffle weave rubber shelf liner. At the far end I've placed a big oven roasting pan on which the 1 gallon waterer rests on top of some 2"X4" scraps. The roasting pan captures some of the water the silly ducklings splash everywhere...no where near all of it. At the other end of the tray lined area I have the feeder, also raised off the floor by 2"X4" scraps. Finally at the end of the tray I have a longer 2"X4" scrap that separates the sleeping area with the heat lamp, which has wood shavings on the floor.
So, last night I took out the watering and feeding stations, lifted out the shelf liner, removed water logged paper and used paper towels to mop up any puddles from the tray area. I put down fresh newspaper and paper towels and a clean shelf liner (I have two that I plan on rotating through). I dumped, cleaned and refilled the waterer, dumped and cleaned the roasting pan and put everything back where it belonged. This is what the brooder looks like in the morning. I gave them fresh food and water, but have done no cleaning. The bedding side of the brooder is dry and mostly clean (some poop but not much) but the other 2/3rds is a mess. My question is, should I care? As long as they have a dry, clean place to snuggle down does it matter if I leave the other side wet until this evening when I clean it all out again or am I courting disaster by not cleaning it multiple times during the day?
The brooder is a large dog crate that I have extended on one end by adding some pannels from a second dog crate so about 2/3rds of the brooder sits on the big slide-out plastic kennel bottom and 1/3 is floored with empty feed bags. In the 2/3rds with the tray/bottom I layer about 3 or 4 layers of newspaper, covered by a layer of paper towels and a final layer of waffle weave rubber shelf liner. At the far end I've placed a big oven roasting pan on which the 1 gallon waterer rests on top of some 2"X4" scraps. The roasting pan captures some of the water the silly ducklings splash everywhere...no where near all of it. At the other end of the tray lined area I have the feeder, also raised off the floor by 2"X4" scraps. Finally at the end of the tray I have a longer 2"X4" scrap that separates the sleeping area with the heat lamp, which has wood shavings on the floor.
So, last night I took out the watering and feeding stations, lifted out the shelf liner, removed water logged paper and used paper towels to mop up any puddles from the tray area. I put down fresh newspaper and paper towels and a clean shelf liner (I have two that I plan on rotating through). I dumped, cleaned and refilled the waterer, dumped and cleaned the roasting pan and put everything back where it belonged. This is what the brooder looks like in the morning. I gave them fresh food and water, but have done no cleaning. The bedding side of the brooder is dry and mostly clean (some poop but not much) but the other 2/3rds is a mess. My question is, should I care? As long as they have a dry, clean place to snuggle down does it matter if I leave the other side wet until this evening when I clean it all out again or am I courting disaster by not cleaning it multiple times during the day?
