Indoor Duck Keepers... Come Hither!

[Fawkes]

Newspaper works well and you can often get it for free on freecycle

I would use fleece instead of towels, since fleece has no loose threads for toenails to get stuck in.

 

[neenerella]

Ok I have rescued a duckling at the end of may which was around maybe 3 days old at the time and injured. She is now done with her juvenile stage I think but I've navigated my way through a few issues. She is an indoor duck now after a few mishaps outside with getting lost but here is how my indoor setup goes.
When she was little I used just small tea light holders Bc they were heavy so thy wouldnt tip but she's way too big for that, for water and food.
So new setup is: open up a plastic dog crate so u can use the top and bottom make sure it's plastic and not fully all cage Bc it won't work. Get litter called cell-sorb. It's safe for all animals made of some kind of recycled paper but the thing is there's a miracle non toxic something inside that absorbs way more water than anything I've come across and there is no smell at all with the poop and let's face it ducks poop every .8 seconds! I also have another container which she grew up in and since she's bigger now that used to be her digging box- I would hide worms and crickets and she would dig and find them, but now it's her sitting box.
Bottom dog crate- fill with cell sorb- 40 lb bag I get at a local wildlife feed store is 25$ and lasts over a month and is way cheaper than even puppy pads. I found I was changing a lot f puppy pads Bc I hate the sight of poop and it stunk.
Get two ice cube trays from Walmart. 1$ each Also buy the small fish filter at Walmart 10$
I have 3 fishtanks so I need every second of easy maintenance on anything I can get. Fill one ice tray with water and setup filter. This saves soooo much time on changing water. I used to have to refill and change many times a day. I didn't like how dirty the water would get and was paranoid it needed to be very clean to clear her nose holes or something. Anyway the water is constantly being cleaned and circulated. I would not recommend too much bigger of a container Bc u don't want the duck inside. My duck as soon as she hits water she poops so no pooping allowed in the water. The ice tray bin is long like a trough and deep enough. Filter needed slight modification for short height but that took a minute. In other tray I put this on other side so there is less water dripping into food tray Bc it makes food spoil quick. In food tray I put upside down butter dish tops- this raises the height of bottom of container and inside I can fit three coffee mugs which I have pellets, cracked corn, and mealworms and crickets. She likes them separated. Since she's a messy eater as well she flies the food everywhere and well it stays in the ice tray so there's no wasting whatever is flying around. I just dump that in one of the cups and top off with bugs or I will put it outside for the wild birds and animals. She's getting super picky with eating now she hates crickets she's very spoiled!
Coming out of that half crate is a large plastic top to a container of 16 gal long flipped over with dog stairs on it. This is plastic and whenever is traveling to and from any poop drops here and is easily sprayed off in the shower. Dog stairs lead to a square chair bench type thing which has her sitting box in it. This is her favorite spot. The whole setup is in front of a mirrored closet and the sitting box also has another door mirror I put and she really loves the mirrors. If she wants to she can go up one more level which I wanted as her bed sleeping area but she loves her sitting box and never really goes in it. It's just the top of the crate flipped over with litter. I put a towel in there to make her think its a bed but she doesn't care and loves her sitting box. The upper crate is directly above the bottle crate with some weird wire shelving thing I put in the holes where the door goes on the crate and made a ladder incline for her to get up.

She is now routinely flying around in the morning and at night. She is very comfortable with we area and she knows that's her area. She will fly from her siting box onto the bed yes I put towels or table cloths work great on the end corner of the bed and she will go to only her part of my bed- her landing area and then fly back to her sitting box. This goes on for atleast an hour when she wakes me up and I sleep through it and before I go to sleep. I made a diaper myself and I think the construction is very important. I ordered two diapers online and even tho I ordered the wrk. Size the construction design I did not like as it wasn't as secure as I would like if I'm goin to bring her outside and walk her I do not want the diaper to come off and me lose her. She's already gotten lost twice outside and catching her was not fun to say the least! But thank God I did ;0D I'm still working a secure diaper design but I think the closest to the one I made I saw in etzy from party fowl with the loop around the neck seems more secure other straps on other designs seem to fall off my duck she just pushes her shoulders back and walks and the diaper comes off. So I am using the one I made. I made it using thong/underwear straps. The whole thing is entirely adjustable and soft but she cannot take it off. I like it but I just need to reinforce with some silk straps and a d or o ring and ill feel like she's secure enough to take outside.

 

[Alexandriand]

Hi there! Could you post a pic of your create set up when you have a chance? I'm trying to come up with a good solution for my indoor ducky. Thank you!

 

[Amanda39]

That's awesome! Can you please post a picture of your set up?