my ducklings are little piggies. update need help i think...

[AHappychick]

my runner ducks are such water hogs. Having only raised chicks before I had no idea how messy these ducklings can be lol. For the last few days I have been cleaning my brooder 2 or 3 times a day. Last night I had had enough and decided to make use of my guest bathroom shower. So I rigged the cage/brooder to open up into the shower with a ramp to the sower stall floor so that they can have their food and water close to where there is a drain and that their bedding will stay dry. Its a quick fix and seems to be working. They are so funny to watch the ducks go nuts making a mess and the chicks just watch the craziness as if they are way above that sort of behavior.

Good thing the only guest I have is my SO and he knows I am crazy, and still loves me anyway.

ok so the shower thing is not working. now there is a gross layer of wet food all over the bottom and they all are getting dirty walking in it. How do you all feed your ducklings? Should I just feed them seperatly 3 times a day or more? I need some advise there has got to be an easier way lol.

 

[chickenannie]

I think ducks are just messy and the loooove water and that's their nature. You just have to set it up so they can be in a place that can get messy and it won't bother you.

 

[Wifezilla]

I have been floating veggies on my ducks water, but the other day I got the brilliant idea to float some frozen peas instead of lettuce or spinach. They floated for a bit but by the time I got to the pen, they sunk. This is a big 3 gallon pail and I expected to be dumping the peas out when I changed the water in the morning. Instead, when I went to change the water, most of it was gone, the peas were gone and the water was almost black.

I thought one of the kids had knocked it over. Turns out one or more of the ducks had got in the bucket and went nuts trying to get to those peas. Chrissy looked the wettest

 

[chickenannie]

When we fed a friend's duck, we put the corn IN the water bowl, because its fav thing to do was gobble it WITH the water. If we put the corn on the ground she'd always eat the corn in the water first, then later nibble on the ground corn. My friend said something about ducks needed to have water to eat or swallow or something like that -- I'm not a duck owner, so I don't know the details. But you know that saying.... like a duck out of water.

 

[Wifezilla]

Sounds right. They do dip their food in water. The stuff floating in their water dish is always gobbled up. Stuff I give them in a separate bowl is often ignored.

 

[tonini3059]

I used a chicken waterer in my brooder and stuck a bunch of newspaper under and around it. I also filled a little tub of water outside of the brooder and let them play in there several times a day then just change it after every bath. That way they could play and not get the inside of the brooder messed up.

 

[Wildsky]

You really don't want to give them access to messy making water 24/7 - a little drinking container should be fine - with a swim once a day or so supervised.


Mine did make a mess even with the waterer, but I kept their bedding etc. in a separate cardboard box, with a cut out door way - so they had a dry place to sleep.

How old are the little boogers?

 

[Omniskies]

Water bottle. It's very easy to teach them to drink out of a water bottle (they'll pick up on it in a few minutes once shown). Just get a 32oz plastic water bottle and put a little bowl beneath it. Any extra water can drip into the bowl that they can dabble in.

Ducklings don't need to swim, especially if they're still too young to produce their own oils to keep them dry. Don't worry about baths - a quick dip once a week is more than enough.

 

[AHappychick]

Quote:
Maybe I will try that. They are a week old

 

[AHappychick]

Quote:
oh really I thought they had to dip their beaks in farther so the water bottle would not work with them, hmmm sounds like a good idea...