Mallard duckling just hatched drinking condensation from sode of incubator

[happyhatcher1981]

Its been almost 6 hours and this little cutie has been super active and perky even hopped up on water tank after 30 minutes of hatch!! Keeps looking at me and opening its mouth amd drinking condensation off side of incubator...seems more than half way dry...is it safe to bring to heated brooder and introduce water ? Should they be thirsty this early on? New momma here. Any insight? Thx!!

 

[DuckyDonna]

I absolutuly would put her in the brooder! She's ready as far as I'm concerned!

 

[DuckyDonna]

I absolutuly would put her in the brooder! She's ready as far as I'm concerned!

I've not left any of mine in the incubator for more than a few hours and good results

 

[happyhatcher1981]

I've not left any of mine in the incubator for more than a few hours and good results

Wonderful!! Thank you for sharing! She is sleeping peacefully. I made the judgement call to go ahead and sje was trying to eat the shavings...however, unsuccessful..but can you suggest how much to feed a newborn? I have non medicated starter crumble with brewers yeast. What is recommended? Thank you!

 

[Texag87]

Wonderful!! Thank you for sharing! She is sleeping peacefully. I made the judgement call to go ahead and sje was trying to eat the shavings...however, unsuccessful..but can you suggest how much to feed a newborn? I have non medicated starter crumble with brewers yeast. What is recommended? Thank you!

You got feed covered. Only thing is you might want to use puppy pads or old towels in the brooder instead of shavings.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Here is a picture of my brooder this year. It's just a kiddie pool. I used the little feeder with the mason jar to start and I've got 2 cool whip containers with cut out tops that sit on a basin with hardware cloth and that rubber shelf liner from Dollar Tree on top. It worked perfectly for a couple of weeks until they graduated to something bigger for both food and water. They have no trouble getting to the water at all and practically right from birth just climbed up on top of the waterers with no problem.

 

[chickens really]

I use shavings right from the start. I place a couple of sheets of paper towel under the feed and water the first day and sprinkle feed on it to get them interested in feed.

 

[happyhatcher1981]

Here is a picture of my brooder this year. It's just a kiddie pool. I used the little feeder with the mason jar to start and I've got 2 cool whip containers with cut out tops that sit on a basin with hardware cloth and that rubber shelf liner from Dollar Tree on top. It worked perfectly for a couple of weeks until they graduated to something bigger for both food and water. They have no trouble getting to the water at all and practically right from birth just climbed up on top of the waterers with no problem.
View attachment 1867555

Great idea!! Thank you for sharing! Love your setup! What cuties!

 

[happyhatcher1981]

I use shavings right from the start. I place a couple of sheets of paper towel under the feed and water the first day and sprinkle feed on it to get them interested in feed.

What an awesome hack!! Love that!! At first i had to feed it to him from my hand then i started dropping crumbles done where he was already doing his foraging behavior and it has been pretty neat!! Thank you so much for sharing!