New duckie mommy 🦆💕

[JessicaB721]

And welcome to BYC!

Thanks!

 

[JessicaB721]

Welcome! You are a brave gal letting them run loose in your home! I kept mine in a brooder inside my home. Couldn't handle it so we made a brooding house and that is where batch #2 are living! I've no idea on your floors but I have had great success with a hydrogen peroxide & water mixture to pull God knows what off my floors. I have a horse ranch, also have dogs, cat's, chickens, ducks and massive amounts of wild birds! Lol Who knows what I drag across my floors.

I understand that! I'm not sure what a brooder is, but I'm going to look into it. Right now I just have a 30 x 36 rabbit cage, that did great when they were itty bitty, but now that they're getting quite big, it doesn't really work well as far as space, and that's why I don't keep them locked up! Well, except for when I go to bed or am at work. And lucky them, the coronavirus is keeping me at home and not at work now so they get a lot of freedom lately!

 

[Legacy Farms]

I understand that! I'm not sure what a brooder is, but I'm going to look into it. Right now I just have a 30 x 36 rabbit cage, that did great when they were itty bitty, but now that they're getting quite big, it doesn't really work well as far as space, and that's why I don't keep them locked up! Well, except for when I go to bed or am at work. And lucky them, the coronavirus is keeping me at home and not at work now so they get a lot of freedom lately!

My hubby built me a 7½'x3' brooder and they grew out of that right quick! They are now out in a modified run in horse shelter, turned into a coop. That sucker is 8'8"x24' they've got lotsa room now. Working on their yard...if the weather would ever cooperate! The brooding house we built onto the coop. It is 8x8'8" we put the brooder inside of it and put hardware cloth on part of the wall so the existing kids can see the new comers when the time comes to let them out of the brooder.

 

[featherhead007]

I would not let your ducklings run loose inside your house. Looks like you may have to pay to have those floors redone. when mine were in I put down puppy pee pads and blocked an area so they had some freedom but they would poop most of the time on the pee pads. A dog x pen works well for this. Welcome to BYC

 

[Legacy Farms]

I understand that! I'm not sure what a brooder is, but I'm going to look into it. Right now I just have a 30 x 36 rabbit cage, that did great when they were itty bitty, but now that they're getting quite big, it doesn't really work well as far as space, and that's why I don't keep them locked up! Well, except for when I go to bed or am at work. And lucky them, the coronavirus is keeping me at home and not at work now so they get a lot of freedom lately!

My hubby built me a 7½'x3' brooder and they grew out of that right quick! They are now out in a modified run in horse shelter, turned into a coop. That sucker is 8'8"x24' they've got lotsa room now. Working on their yard...if the weather would ever cooperate! The brooding house we built onto the coop. It is 8x8'8" we put the brooder inside of it and put hardware cloth on part of the wall so the existing kids can see the new comers when the time comes to let them out of the brooder.

 

[JessicaB721]

My hubby built me a 7½'x3' brooder and they grew out of that right quick! They are now out in a modified run in horse shelter, turned into a coop. That sucker is 8'8"x24' they've got lotsa room now. Working on their yard...if the weather would ever cooperate! The brooding house we built onto the coop. It is 8x8'8" we put the brooder inside of it and put hardware cloth on part of the wall so the existing kids can see the new comers when the time comes to let them out of the brooder.

That sounds about the size I told my fiancé I'd like to put in our backyard, well, when we move and have more room in the back! For now, I told him I want to look into getting a decent sized portable shed that we can buy and put in the little backyard that we have now. So at least they can be outside with a lot more room to roam, and then I can let them out to roam in the yard whenever we're back there. I was just looking up large rectangular dog pens online, and found one that the interior of it is 27 x 84.5 inches. That wouldn't be too bad for in the house, down in the basement, once we get our game room setup... Lord knows my kids will be down there 24/7 once we get the game room all finished! And they'd have a decent amount of room to run around while they're still caged inside, before we can finally get money together to try to get some kind of a large shed to keep them in. Unfortunately, I'm out of work due to the coronavirus right now.
I love my duckies, for sure! But I did NOT consider how quick they grew! I figured I'd have almost a year before I had to worry about a much bigger enclosure for them! Shame on me!!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC

 

[JessicaB721]

Hi and welcome to BYC

Thank you!

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

 

[Legacy Farms]

That sounds about the size I told my fiancé I'd like to put in our backyard, well, when we move and have more room in the back! For now, I told him I want to look into getting a decent sized portable shed that we can buy and put in the little backyard that we have now. So at least they can be outside with a lot more room to roam, and then I can let them out to roam in the yard whenever we're back there. I was just looking up large rectangular dog pens online, and found one that the interior of it is 27 x 84.5 inches. That wouldn't be too bad for in the house, down in the basement, once we get our game room setup... Lord knows my kids will be down there 24/7 once we get the game room all finished! And they'd have a decent amount of room to run around while they're still caged inside, before we can finally get money together to try to get some kind of a large shed to keep them in. Unfortunately, I'm out of work due to the coronavirus right now.
I love my duckies, for sure! But I did NOT consider how quick they grew! I figured I'd have almost a year before I had to worry about a much bigger enclosure for them! Shame on me!!

The smell of them being in the house was enough for me to build the brooding house before the run! I cleaned their brooding box 2xs a day with fresh pine shavings. 6 Duckings in a brooder was enough to punch you in the face when you first walked into their room. They went through more shavings in a week than my horses do! I am new to this whole keep them inside for 5-6 weeks train of thought. I grew up with chickens & ducks. We never kept them inside. Now I know why...
I will attach a couple pictures of the brooding house we built. It cost less than $400 to build. It isn't painted yet due to our bipolar weather here in Northern Arizona. Mother nature can't decide if she wants spring winds or to prolong winter. It poured all night so we are a swamp again, I'm thinking prolonging winter to make me cray cray.

This is the brooder box we used inside.

Shot of the inside.

Convenient hole our mare Sadie chewed in her old shelter was perfect to use as a hardware cloth window into the brooding house.

Completed brooding house. It stays between 65-75 thus far inside the house without the light. With the brooding lights on it's perfect for the babies. It also came in handy on Saturday when an impromptu thunderstorm hit. We hid in the brooding house until it passed.