Messy Duckling and Chick victims

[hillbillygreen]

I have 7 chicks and 1 duckling about 2 weeks old in their brooder together. The duckling is my husbands', but he is such a mess maker with the water that I can't keep their bedding clean!! I change the water twice a day because he/she splashes it all out onto the floor of the plastic enclosure into the shavings. This must go on all day and night because last night we were gone the most and discovered the bedding was really really wet! The water was knocked over and empty! And the chicks were wet!! The ducky seemed the driest, but I am now worried for their overall health and how I can keep up with this scenario! For now I want to do total change outs of litter, water, etc three times a day, but I can't always get to them mid-day! Please help!

 

[sourland]

Ducks are messy - that's just the way it is. This is the reason many prefer to raise ducklings and chicks in separate pens. Quick solution - get another duckling and put the two of them in a separate box/brooder.

 

[hillbillygreen]

Pretty sure the farm supply is out of the baby ducks by now since he's getting HUGE! We sort of remedied this problem to a certain degree by just enlarging the brooder. So if he/she makes a mess, the little chicks can escape it. Plus it's a long skinny box and they've taken to doing sprints down the runway, LOL! Hoping to get that on video!