Welcome! I'm new to raising ducks too!
My hubby and I got two three day old duckies from TSC (luckily both ended up being girls) and we raised them in a storage bin beside our bed. They are now about 4 months.
We use pine shavings which significantly helps with the smell! If the ducks let out an extra tinky-poo we just plop some fresh pine shavings over it and it dissipates.
Once they began to outgrow the storage bin we upgraded to an extra long one (stretches about the length of our queen sized bed). When they were ducklings we would take them outside to bath in an old fire pit at least every other day, but preferably twice a day, and then let them graze in our garden supervised for about an hour or so twice a day too. Now they are grown duckies and we had to upgrade to a 40 Gallon stock tank for their pond and a coop outdoors.
Currently they only sleep outdoors, I put them to bed at sunset and let them out at sunrise. I stay outside with them for at least two hours- up to four. I do homework, make breakfast, laundry and such but because their duck yard isnt fully protected I won't leave them alone outside for more than 15 minutes at a time. Usually I'm not even in the duck yard, just lounging on patio furniture!
I like to be outside as a deterrent for cats and hawks. The ducks still spend a majority of their day inside in the extra long bin but we try to take them out twice a day still, and at least 45 minutes before they go to bed. I'll post pictures! Hope this helps.
We started off with a bin on the right and upgraded to the one on the left- skipped the middle. These were from Walmart. We clean the bin out every day. When they were inside longer we sometimes had to do it twice a day.
My hubby and I got two three day old duckies from TSC (luckily both ended up being girls) and we raised them in a storage bin beside our bed. They are now about 4 months.
We use pine shavings which significantly helps with the smell! If the ducks let out an extra tinky-poo we just plop some fresh pine shavings over it and it dissipates.
Once they began to outgrow the storage bin we upgraded to an extra long one (stretches about the length of our queen sized bed). When they were ducklings we would take them outside to bath in an old fire pit at least every other day, but preferably twice a day, and then let them graze in our garden supervised for about an hour or so twice a day too. Now they are grown duckies and we had to upgrade to a 40 Gallon stock tank for their pond and a coop outdoors.
Currently they only sleep outdoors, I put them to bed at sunset and let them out at sunrise. I stay outside with them for at least two hours- up to four. I do homework, make breakfast, laundry and such but because their duck yard isnt fully protected I won't leave them alone outside for more than 15 minutes at a time. Usually I'm not even in the duck yard, just lounging on patio furniture!
I like to be outside as a deterrent for cats and hawks. The ducks still spend a majority of their day inside in the extra long bin but we try to take them out twice a day still, and at least 45 minutes before they go to bed. I'll post pictures! Hope this helps.
We started off with a bin on the right and upgraded to the one on the left- skipped the middle. These were from Walmart. We clean the bin out every day. When they were inside longer we sometimes had to do it twice a day.
