I bought Ducklings from Tractor Supply & i have questions 🙃

[Samanthaschuler7]

Hello there! My names Sami. My family and I are currently starting our own homestead, and we decided to add some ducklings to our growing family. Prior to going to tractor supply and purchasing ducklings, I watched a handful of videos on how to sex ducklings, and some said I could guess (not guaranteed without vent sexing) by the darkness of their downs [females with lighter downs; males with darker downs], and since tractor supply did not say what the sexs were, I went that route - later when I got home I attempted vent sexing them, but I didn't seem to be very successful (or i have a lot of females by luck) - keep in mind it was my first time, and I didn't want to hurt the darling little things.. advice on how to properly sex your birds, would be super awesome and much appreciated! I just want to make sure I have a proper male to female ratio (I've heard 3-4 females to 1 male is good for the females, I don't want to stress them), and if I don't, what's the proper way to go about getting more females if needed..? Probably key information, we bought 13 ducklings. Im also attempting at identifying the breeds of these ducklings..

Nutrition wise, I've got a duckling feed for them that has a18% protein content, and at 3 weeks of age (estimated to be nine days old) I was planning on diluting their feed by adding a 20% ratio of rolled oats (from what i've read, they seem to need to go down to a 15%-16% protein content feed from 3-8 weeks of age), and I've also tried giving them some lettuce and grated carrots, as I heard that that was alright to give them.. I also have grit available, and I have a water additive that has electrolytes, acidifiers, and prebiotics in it.. is there anything I'm missing or am doing wrong..?
I've also been giving them supervised swimming sessions in 3-4 inches deep of water for about 20 minutes every other day.. and I've been trying to handle them as often as possible so they are used to me and aren't afraid of me.. and we are planning on adding a couple of goslings to the flock asap.. I would love and appreciate advice! Thank you!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Only feed them the starter until they're Bout a month old. They don't need the treats and it doesn't benefit them at all to eat them that early

 

[Percheron chick]

It is critical for ducklings to get adequate niacin, 10mg/day. Duckling specific feed should have added niacin but make sure. Cutting it with oats will create a deficiency.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hello there! My names Sami. My family and I are currently starting our own homestead, and we decided to add some ducklings to our growing family. Prior to going to tractor supply and purchasing ducklings, I watched a handful of videos on how to sex ducklings, and some said I could guess (not guaranteed without vent sexing) by the darkness of their downs [females with lighter downs; males with darker downs], and since tractor supply did not say what the sexs were, I went that route - later when I got home I attempted vent sexing them, but I didn't seem to be very successful (or i have a lot of females by luck) - keep in mind it was my first time, and I didn't want to hurt the darling little things.. advice on how to properly sex your birds, would be super awesome and much appreciated! I just want to make sure I have a proper male to female ratio (I've heard 3-4 females to 1 male is good for the females, I don't want to stress them), and if I don't, what's the proper way to go about getting more females if needed..? Probably key information, we bought 13 ducklings. Im also attempting at identifying the breeds of these ducklings..

Nutrition wise, I've got a duckling feed for them that has a18% protein content, and at 3 weeks of age (estimated to be nine days old) I was planning on diluting their feed by adding a 20% ratio of rolled oats (from what i've read, they seem to need to go down to a 15%-16% protein content feed from 3-8 weeks of age), and I've also tried giving them some lettuce and grated carrots, as I heard that that was alright to give them.. I also have grit available, and I have a water additive that has electrolytes, acidifiers, and prebiotics in it.. is there anything I'm missing or am doing wrong..?
I've also been giving them supervised swimming sessions in 3-4 inches deep of water for about 20 minutes every other day.. and I've been trying to handle them as often as possible so they are used to me and aren't afraid of me.. and we are planning on adding a couple of goslings to the flock asap.. I would love and appreciate advice! Thank you!

I would not dilute the food with oats- I did do this with my ducklings feed but it was higher protein, over 20%. I've heard of people raising ducklings without issue with 20% for all life stages. Not sure if that's ideal, but 18% should be fine. If you see any feather eating, they may not be getting enough

There should be a good amount of niacin in the food, but you may want to supplement extra to be on the safe side, or if you notice any deficiencies, as some ducklings benefit from a bit more. 1tbsp of nutritional yeast per cup of feed will give them a boost if needed.
Limit treats, and I wouldn't introduce treats until 3 or 4 weeks. At which point they'll need chick grit available to digest them.

I've never heard of sexing hatchling based on the colour of their down? Feather sexing is possible once they're a little older and feathered.
Beak colour can sometimes indicate the sex with some breeds. Though

 

[ruthhope]

Your ducklings need 20% protein now and when the bag is finished they can go onto a lower amount -- the timing isn't critical once the ducklings are 4 weeks old, so just finish the bag of 20% duck starter crumbles

Be sure to feed your older ducklings/ducks on duck pellets. All Flock doesn't have enough niacin for ducks. If you have pekin ducklings, they will need extra niacin to what is provided in duck pellets as they are big ducks. I give niacin as brewers yeast -- 1 tablespoon per cup of pellets, sprinkled on top. The ducks love it. Nutritional yeast [human grade] provides a larger dose of niacin per tablespoon but is much more expensive. For a large flock of ducks, best to use brewer's yeast -- from Josh's Frogs or same brand from Amazon. It comes in 5lb bags

Your ducklings are too young to sex. I have never heard of the darker down theory. It isn't true! Best wait until the drakes get drake feathers, or both sex find their voices, to sex them. Muscovy don't have drake feathers but the drakes are much larger and have many more carruncles. Muscovy voices differ by sex too. Vent sexing should be done by people who know how to do it in the first days after hatching. You shouldn't try it now.
You are correct that you can harm the little fluffies doing vent sexing.

It doesn't matter about sex ratios until the ducks are juveniles when the drakes will try and mount the females.

The "straight run" ducks at Tractor Supply are unlikely to be straight run. At least some of the unwanted drakes from the hachery sexed duckling sales, end up in the straight run bin. So you would be statistically very unlikley to have all females. Do expect more drakes than you need and be pleasantly surprised if you don't have too many drakes.

My son got 3 "day old" ducklings from Tractor Supply and was lucky to get 1 drake and two females that get along together well. Someone else near us 2 years ago got 4 drakes: I know that as 4 juvenile drakes were dumped on a local retention pond. They were clearly tightly bonded from having been brooded together.

If you have too many drakes, please do not dump them on ponds, creeks or in parks. Domestic ducks are not equiped to survive in the wild and are sitting prey to a very horrible death by predator. Plan now what you will do with excess drakes -- you can try and adopt them, or you can quickly and humanely cull them. But please don't dump them!

 

[Canadian Wind]

Your ducklings need 20% protein now and when the bag is finished they can go onto a lower amount -- the timing isn't critical once the ducklings are 4 weeks old, so just finish the bag of 20% duck starter crumbles

Be sure to feed your older ducklings/ducks on duck pellets. All Flock doesn't have enough niacin for ducks. If you have pekin ducklings, they will need extra niacin to what is provided in duck pellets as they are big ducks. I give niacin as brewers yeast -- 1 tablespoon per cup of pellets, sprinkled on top. The ducks love it. Nutritional yeast [human grade] provides a larger dose of niacin per tablespoon but is much more expensive. For a large flock of ducks, best to use brewer's yeast -- from Josh's Frogs or same brand from Amazon. It comes in 5lb bags

Your ducklings are too young to sex. I have never heard of the darker down theory. It isn't true! Best wait until the drakes get drake feathers, or both sex find their voices, to sex them. Muscovy don't have drake feathers but the drakes are much larger and have many more carruncles. Muscovy voices differ by sex too. Vent sexing should be done by people who know how to do it in the first days after hatching. You shouldn't try it now.
You are correct that you can harm the little fluffies doing vent sexing.

It doesn't matter about sex ratios until the ducks are juveniles when the drakes will try and mount the females.

The "straight run" ducks at Tractor Supply are unlikely to be straight run. At least some of the unwanted drakes from the hachery sexed duckling sales, end up in the straight run bin. So you would be statistically very unlikley to have all females. Do expect more drakes than you need and be pleasantly surprised if you don't have too many drakes.

My son got 3 "day old" ducklings from Tractor Supply and was lucky to get 1 drake and two females that get along together well. Someone else near us 2 years ago got 4 drakes: I know that as 4 juvenile drakes were dumped on a local retention pond. They were clearly tightly bonded from having been brooded together.

If you have too many drakes, please do not dump them on ponds, creeks or in parks. Domestic ducks are not equiped to survive in the wild and are sitting prey to a very horrible death by predator. Plan now what you will do with excess drakes -- you can try and adopt them, or you can quickly and humanely cull them. But please don't dump them!

All of this, and as the others have said. Also:



What breeds did you get? I see Khaki Campbells in there, but not sure about the others. If some of those yellow ducklings are Pekin, you will need to supplement with niacin for their entire lives as even duck-specific food will not have enough for them.

 

[CoriM]

You've gotten lots of great advice, and it looks like you prepped on your own as well! You're off to a great start!

 

[CoriM]

They are super cute, and handling them a lot will make them nice and comfortable with you. I love that yellow one with the black stripes on its head

 

[dekel18042]

Hello there! My names Sami. My family and I are currently starting our own homestead, and we decided to add some ducklings to our growing family. Prior to going to tractor supply and purchasing ducklings, I watched a handful of videos on how to sex ducklings, and some said I could guess (not guaranteed without vent sexing) by the darkness of their downs [females with lighter downs; males with darker downs], and since tractor supply did not say what the sexs were, I went that route - later when I got home I attempted vent sexing them, but I didn't seem to be very successful (or i have a lot of females by luck) - keep in mind it was my first time, and I didn't want to hurt the darling little things.. advice on how to properly sex your birds, would be super awesome and much appreciated! I just want to make sure I have a proper male to female ratio (I've heard 3-4 females to 1 male is good for the females, I don't want to stress them), and if I don't, what's the proper way to go about getting more females if needed..? Probably key information, we bought 13 ducklings. Im also attempting at identifying the breeds of these ducklings..

Nutrition wise, I've got a duckling feed for them that has a18% protein content, and at 3 weeks of age (estimated to be nine days old) I was planning on diluting their feed by adding a 20% ratio of rolled oats (from what i've read, they seem to need to go down to a 15%-16% protein content feed from 3-8 weeks of age), and I've also tried giving them some lettuce and grated carrots, as I heard that that was alright to give them.. I also have grit available, and I have a water additive that has electrolytes, acidifiers, and prebiotics in it.. is there anything I'm missing or am doing wrong..?
I've also been giving them supervised swimming sessions in 3-4 inches deep of water for about 20 minutes every other day.. and I've been trying to handle them as often as possible so they are used to me and aren't afraid of me.. and we are planning on adding a couple of goslings to the flock asap.. I would love and appreciate advice! Thank you!

Many hatcheries (most?) do not sex ducklings. Depending on the breed you can tell when the adult feathers come in as the drakes and ducks have different colors or heads or in the white one (Pekins and other breeds), the drake has curly tail feathers while the hens are straight. We got five unsexed Khaki Campbells from TSC and had one drake, four hens.