No brooder bedding?

[Enigmius]

Make that 6 birdies. The zipped egg just hatched.

 

[CLovesDucks]

I just use puppy pads when we have ducklings. They provide traction and make cleanup a breeze.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are precious! I have the same heat plate and my two Runner duckling spent more time on top than underneath they’ll be 3 weeks old on Wednesday and I packed the heat plate up this past Sat. What temp is the room they are in? Another thing is do you have the front higher than the back . Mine did not like it as low as I started out either.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I just use puppy pads when we have ducklings. They provide traction and make cleanup a breeze.

I really like using puppy pads.

 

[Enigmius]

They are precious! I have the same heat plate and my two Runner duckling spent more time on top than underneath they’ll be 3 weeks old on Wednesday and I packed the heat plate up this past Sat. What temp is the room they are in? Another thing is do you have the front higher than the back . Mine did not like it as low as I started out either.

Well, I also have one of those electric oil radiant heaters going in the bathroom to raise the temp to 80 degrees.

 

[Miss Lydia]

That’s probably why they don’t need the heat plate lol.

 

[Enigmius]

That’s probably why they don’t need the heat plate lol.

Oh! I thought they had to be around 99 degrees the first week. Jeez. I’ve been stressing for nothing.

 

[Miss Lydia]

That’s chicks . Duckling don’t require near that as long as they are out of any drafts. I usually keep mine at 85 first week then lower the temp each week there after.

 

[Enigmius]

That’s chicks . Duckling don’t require near that as long as they are out of any drafts. I usually keep mine at 85 first week then lower the temp each week there after.

OMG! LOL. So the radiant heater was all I needed this whole time. Well. I'm going to start constructing their see-me-don't-touch me cage in the outside coop real soon. If I only had 3 ducklings, I could let them brood a little longer, but so far I now have 6, and have two more eggs about to hatch. One of the eggs I just put a safety hole in. It pipped internally yesterday. It has been 24 hours and no sign of an external pip. So hopefully with the safety hole(just a pin prick) in the fat end(into the air cell) of the shell, it won't run out of o2. I'll still be waiting for another 24 hours for a total of 48 hours internally pipped before I help further. Hopefully it makes it through. I lost one bird in its shell due to malposition at the beginning, but the others had hatched ok with very minimum assistance(laying the egg on its side after fully zipped).

 

[Miss Lydia]

You had a great hatch. Are you keeping all? My first hatch has turned out to be out of 4 eggs 4 drakes. They are going to live in VA. This coming Friday. Fawn and white is female. I also have 2 that will be 3 weeks old tomorrow sure hope those 2 are girls.