Orphaned Ducklings in 50 degrees

[headyfox]

Hey guys,

One of our backyard muscovy ducks had a brood of 7 ducklings a couple weeks ago but suffered an unfortunate encounter with another animal so the ducklings are now orphaned. They have been ok on their own for the last few days from what we can tell, they hang around the older ducks and try to stay close to them at night.

I have a couple of questions about their cold tolerance because I get kind of conflicting info from Google. its been in the 70s here recently, but the next couple of days it'll be in the mid 50s at night/morning. It'll get back to the 70s during the day but should we try and get them in to an enclosure we can heat at night? I read online that around 7 to 8 weeks is when their fully feathered and can handle colder temps on their own.

Their mother was one of our favorite ducks so we really want to try and help her ducklings survive the first few weeks.

 

[MROO]

A "couple of weeks," as in two-week old ducklings? If you really want to give them the best shot, I'd give them heat for awhile, at least at night. Poor babies, that's a rough way to start out!

 

[headyfox]

A "couple of weeks," as in two-week old ducklings? If you really want to give them the best shot, I'd give them heat for awhile, at least at night. Poor babies, that's a rough way to start out!

I had to go back and loot at my calender, they started hatching between 11/22 and 23 so they're a little over 3 weeks old. We have a lake behind our house which is where they are pretty much all day with the rest of the ducks we see everyday.

We can definitely try and get them in to some sort of enclosure and put a heat lamp on them over night. Do we let them back out to run around during the day? or should we keep them in an enclosure till they get a few weeks older?