Well, all of the shipments arrived and the ducklings and poults are good. We lost 4 ducklings during shipment, but the other 26 are doing well and it's been about 35 hours. The poults, along with their 10 packing peanuts (chickens!!!!!!!!!) are thriving. They've been here 48+ hours. I'm in central Florida and it's 93 right now. I have an old dog run that's converted into a duck run. It's predator proof (as good as I can get it) and on sand (yeah for drainage!!). I have my daugter's old playhouse in the pen now and the windows are screened and it has a roof. I plan on turning on the heat lamp at night because it drops down to the upper 60s, but wonder at what point do I turn it on? When it drops below 90? 85? I'm afraid that if I turn it on and it is still 85 or so I'll roast them. I kept them inside our house until today and even though they're only 3/4 days old I let them loose in the run and they had a delightful time. It has shade material on top and is very protected. They were eating and drinking, running, scratching and sleeping. This afternoon I did herd them into the playhouse so they'd get used to it and plan on letting them out in a bit for another hour or so and then putting them back inside the playhouse for the night.
We're having a dry spell right now so rain isn't much of a problem. If we're going to have a storm I'll bring them in but the playhouse should keep them dry during showers. I've also put plastic up on the sides of the run in case the rain blows in sideways.
Advice anyone? I've had adult ducks before but these are 1st babies. My friend decided she needed turkeys so those got added at the last minute...and then the packing peanuts....certainly wasn't counting on those! They're mighty cute, though.
We're having a dry spell right now so rain isn't much of a problem. If we're going to have a storm I'll bring them in but the playhouse should keep them dry during showers. I've also put plastic up on the sides of the run in case the rain blows in sideways.
Advice anyone? I've had adult ducks before but these are 1st babies. My friend decided she needed turkeys so those got added at the last minute...and then the packing peanuts....certainly wasn't counting on those! They're mighty cute, though.
