New to duck life any advice?

[Momma_duck]

So me and the hubby bought our youngest some ducks. Well actually a lot of duckling's!. He is addicted to them . He has to watch them on YouTube literally the only thing he watches. I went to tractor supply and bought about 5. since his birthday is comming up. Then my husband went the next day and got more ! In total we now have 18 duckling's. We have no clue the breed, there all yellow, some have orange beaks, with orange feet. Some of them have a light pink beak with light pink/ orange feet. We were told they hatched 24 hours prior to us picking them up. So 5 of them will be one week old tomorrow on Saturday, the rest will be 1 week old on sunday. There all currently inside my room I have a metal fence up, like a indoor dog pen type, I zip tied cardboard all around the bottom to make sure there not getting there heads stuck lol. I also have a lock with a key on the gate to keep them safe from my children. There is a heat lamp and they have plenty of room. I also use my old pans for there water to make sure they can get in and out with ease. I have 3, there on chick starter due to the back of the bag stating it's also for ducks. Some of them there wing tips look like there feathers are disappearing. One of them is a smaller one and I hand feed him/her to make sure she/he gets food. There freaking massive though. The duck pictures I look at for 1 week olds, there 2x that size. I change there water 4x a day. There food I put some in there and every time it runs low I give them more so they don't track so much food everywhere. I use blankets to keep down and I wash them in the washer and put a new one down about 4x a day to just keep them extra clean. For my children I tell them there not aloud to pick them up, just for precaution issues with the duckling's being so fragile. 2x a day I let the kids just sit down with them and put some food in there hands and let the ducklings eat from the to get used to them. My almost 2 year old keeps putting there feed on his toes and laughs when the ducks eat it :/. 2x a day I let them all out to free roam the house as well, to get used to us and let them streach and play. Is there anything I am missing? I did some googling and I think some are Perkin and some are Perkin mixed I can't remember the a name. Hence the pink beaks. The smaller one seems to have issues this morning walking. He or she is not wanting to stand up straight and walk like the others, he has his body close to the ground and walking/crawling I guess you can say. I have Brewers yeast in there feed. So I have been hand feeding that one all day. Every hour, and putting it in the water to let her or him clean up and stuff. Maybe he or her just got injured from the others because there so massive already.

 

[Miss Lydia]

When we have one showing a leg problem we immediately think of a niacin deficiency and once they have one it best to get them on Durvet liquid B Complex TSC has it it will say injectable but we give it to our ducklings orally since your feeding this one separately you could mix 1/2 ml into a small amount of feed and let him eat it all that way you k ow he got full dose. You might want to keep this little one in the same brooder you have set up but with a divider of some kind so it’s not getting stepped on by the other and they can all still see each other. Until this recovers an get strong enough to with stand the other pushing and shoving. Sounds like you have Pekin and white layers. Both get big so you want to make sure they get an adequate amount of B everyday either through the Durvet liquid b complex or by putting 1 tab of brewers yeast to every cup of feed you give them. All except any who are already showing issues like this on you described. Sounds like you have a house full.And I commend you for teaching your children how to treat these ducklings and care for them.

 

[Momma_duck]

Yes I have Brewers yeast I put in there feed. When I feed them, I put 2 cups of feed, and 2 tabs of the Brewers yeast. But I also feed them Everytime they run out. Yes, my children are very sweet but, I know accidents do happen, so I try to teach them to be respectful and responsible as much as possible, will all of our animals (we have a lot). This morning I did Google it and it said niacin could cause it, so we're going to get some at GNC in the morning. I have devided the cage up by cardboard, to make sure they don't hurt that one. It is the smallest one we have. So I want to make sure there all okay. At night time though there really chatty! I don't mean by hearing a little squickes I mean there all so loud! They kept me up all night last night, I was up and down checking on them because they talk so much.

 

[Momma_duck]

When we have one showing a leg problem we immediately think of a niacin deficiency and once they have one it best to get them on Durvet liquid B Complex TSC has it it will say injectable but we give it to our ducklings orally since your feeding this one separately you could mix 1/2 ml into a small amount of feed and let him eat it all that way you k ow he got full dose. You might want to keep this little one in the same brooder you have set up but with a divider of some kind so it’s not getting stepped on by the other and they can all still see each other. Until this recovers an get strong enough to with stand the other pushing and shoving. Sounds like you have Pekin and white layers. Both get big so you want to make sure they get an adequate amount of B everyday either through the Durvet liquid b complex or by putting 1 tab of brewers yeast to every cup of feed you give them. All except any who are already showing issues like this on you described. Sounds like you have a house full.And I commend you for teaching your children how to treat these ducklings and care for them.

For there tempatures too I have a thermometer I use for my pythons (no the ducks are not for them I breed rats there only on a rat diet. They will never be feed the ducks, chickens or anything other, the ducks are for a birthday present for my son) but I was told in the first week 95 degrees, then every week after go down 5 degrees. Well I make a miniature house out of a box , I cut a door out that I push down as a ramp for them to walk into and cut a hole at the top for the lamp. The first 4 days they were going in and out. Then came out more and more. Now they won't even go in it. So I took it out this morning and raised up the heat lamp, we actually keep the air off, since the ducks are inside, so the temp in my house is at 75. 2 days ago they won't go under there lamp, and when they play in there water it's like there bodys are not even wet. It's so weird to see them play and there barley wet. Today the temp in my house was on 70 I was hot, and I noticed them all playing and stuff so I kept it on 70. There not huddled up or acting cold. They seem content. Right now there just taking a nap and I noticed one of them is a bully. One other one he or she is starting to stand up straight and like Bob her or his head back and forth and make a weird noise, that one does it when I let them all out to roam, this morning after I put my dogs in the kennels. It looked super funny, then the bully one ran up to her or him and then they chased each other and played. There definitely getting there personality in.

 

[Isaac 0]

When we have one showing a leg problem we immediately think of a niacin deficiency and once they have one it best to get them on Durvet liquid B Complex TSC has it it will say injectable but we give it to our ducklings orally since your feeding this one separately you could mix 1/2 ml into a small amount of feed and let him eat it all that way you k ow he got full dose. You might want to keep this little one in the same brooder you have set up but with a divider of some kind so it’s not getting stepped on by the other and they can all still see each other. Until this recovers an get strong enough to with stand the other pushing and shoving. Sounds like you have Pekin and white layers. Both get big so you want to make sure they get an adequate amount of B everyday either through the Durvet liquid b complex or by putting 1 tab of brewers yeast to every cup of feed you give them. All except any who are already showing issues like this on you described. Sounds like you have a house full.And I commend you for teaching your children how to treat these ducklings and care for them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Maybe you can put one of the smallest of your big ones [make sense] so your little one won't be lonely they really do so much better if they aren't alone an can see each other. You need to get the liquid B complex from TSC it's more concentrated and works so much faster.

 

[Momma_duck]

Maybe you can put one of the smallest of your big ones [make sense] so your little one won't be lonely they really do so much better if they aren't alone an can see each other. You need to get the liquid B complex from TSC it's more concentrated and works so much faster.

Okay I can do that. Tractor supply closes in my state at 6 due to the virus. So first thing in the morning I will go and get some. Yes I put one on the other side with the smaller one. If one gets like 1 foot away from the others the duckling makes a weird noise and freaks out. I had no choice they were all attacking the cardboard middle I guess to get the other duckling back. I noticed yesterday they have been acting weird, there all following me every were I go. Everytime I clean the cage they all run to me, and at night time they get so loud, when I get out of bed to check them I go in there cage to check each one to make sure there all okay and I rub them, and they stop talking so loud. Then as soon as I get out they do it again. When there all running in the house one runs like napolion diomite. they will all chase me through the house. this morning they all ran up to my almost two years old and attacked his diaper. All 18 ducks , he freaked out and then laughed and ran while they were all chasing him . When I cleaned there cage about a hour a ago, my large pup was sniffing the cage, and the bully one ran up to him and bite his nose and my poor dog ran away yelping. For a xl bully dog he's a cry baby.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well you have a circus going on there lol. What kind of heat bulb are you using? Red has a calming effect on poultry white doesn’t.

 

[Momma_duck]

It

Well you have a circus going on there lol. What kind of heat bulb are you using? Red has a calming effect on poultry white doesn’t.

The heat bulb has no light to it, its a regular heat bulb. I have a heat lamp we used for the baby silkies, all turned out to be roos :/. The actual heat lamp it's self came from one of my reptiles I have as a back up, it has a clamp attacked to it so I have it clamped on the cage and I can easily move it up and down. The bulb it's self I checked with my thermometer gun, when I point it at the bulb it reads 100 degrees. So i didn't put down far, I put my hand up it until I feel the heat, and re check the temp under it. The first 4 days there box was 95. Then they would never go in it. So I moved there lamp up, and waited 20 minutes , rechecked the temperature and it was 89, they finally went inside, and now they don't even go under it anymore really there all spaced out right now sleeping. The bully duckling likes the randomly wake up and walk all over them all. Sometimes I have to move him because he will climb on top of them and go to sleep, then you can hear them yelping so I will go in there and make him get up and there all fine again. Some of them, are getting white, there loosing there yellow.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Your going to have to post some pictures of these birds! They may not need heat with there being that many for Pekin and white layer 89 is way to hot.