Now I am in trouble.... so, here I am in a different forum.

[fishnet1971]

i am sure you have all enjoyed this, but when I put them into the pan with 3 inches of water, (their feet still touched the bottom, but they had enough water to scoot around in) they went as fast as their little bodies would take them all around in it! just like they were playing. trying to dip their heads into it and all. it was so precious! then i looked over at my three day old chicks, and they were trying to dust bath in their food. OMG.... this is just way to much cuteness for one person.

ok, so i will go get the game food and split it with the other food for the niacin. not a problem. do i have to continue this when they are grown as well, or do they get the niacin they need from being outdoors and free ranging with my flock?

can they have food like the peas and stuff at this age?

 

[desertdarlene]

Awww, what a cute set of ducklings.

 

[Lamar Estate]

This section on BYC has been an incredible resource for me. I would suggest getting Dave Holderread's book on ducks published by Storey.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

What adorable ducklings. No need to worry if the water is warm, as long as the ducklings have heat source to dry off under.

My mother ducks take their new, two day old hatchings swimming and bathing from well.......day two, some even from day one.

People may not think a duckling needs to bathe, but ducklings would prefer to bathe.

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[Drk_Wlf]

Ducks are cute but SUPER messy, they make a nasty mess with their water and their droppings are disgusting. I would love to have some ducks again, but I'm waiting until I get a better setup for them. I tried keeping them with my chickens and it just didn't work. When we move to our new place my husband has promised to build a pond so we can get some more ducks.

 

[destinduck]

Also ironicly if they swim at a very young age the oil gland develops quicker and are more waterproof. But till they feather out they can always get chilled or drown. But I can tell that's not gonna happen with your's.

 

[priss]

Awwwwwwwwwwwww I loooooove them!! What a wonderful stroke of good luck!!! Everything in life should come with baby ducks accidentally mixed in!! Breakfast cereal...oooops baby ducks toooo. Tax returns....ooops baby ducks toooo. Speeding fine...oooooops baby ducks tooooooooooooo!!!

 

[FenDruadin]

They won't always need supplemental niacin, just while they're building muscle and bone. Once you switch them to layer feed around 14 or 15 weeks, you'll no longer need to add niacin.

Enjoy. They're adorable!

 

[nettie]

If you go to the sticky section at the very top of the forum here, you'll find a huge treat list including what is good for ducklings at about what age...

ducklings can have medicate feed as long as it's medicated with amprolium. Amprolium is fine and will not hurt your duckies. Crumbles are a good start (mine liked their food wetted a little, but it has to be changed often to prevent spoiling) and switch them to pellets when they get older. Pellets decrease the chance of choking when older. Make sure if their is feed, there is ALWAYS water. Ducks can choke without water since they don't peck or chew. they just swallow whole!

You will have to be more leery about bumblefoot with ducks, so make sure to check their feet often.

You'll probably want to make them their own coop/run since they are a lot more messy than chickens... But that can wait til their older.

Watch out for the genders of your ducklings. there should always been more females than males to prevent over breeding. If you end up with only one girl, two boys, you may want to consider expanding and getting 2-4 more girls. You should be able to sex them by voice soon. If your duckling's voice starts to change and you hear "whaks" rather than just peeping, you have yourself a girl. Boys will get a more hoarse peep until their voice changes into a low muttering squeaky kind of quack. My one pekin starting whakking at only 2 weeks old, but you'll normally hear the change around 4-6 weeks old.

Hope that helps!