question regarding muscovy ducklings

[pollizichickens]

I have 16 Muscovy ducklings, they were born on May 3, 2014. My question is, when can I remove them from the play pen that has a light for warmth that is located in my garage and place them outside in a dog kennel lined with chicken wire at the base of it. In this dog kennel is a little house the size of a dog house that my husband made for the ducklings. I live in Oklahoma and our weather is very unpredictable, the past few days have been very warm, in the 80's to 90's. A cool front has now arrived and they are predicting the temps in the low 70's in the day and upper 50's at night for a few days.

I am really tired of cleaning duck poop, lol, ...........you can imagine.............16 ducklings pooping constantly.

If anyone has an answer I would appreciate it,

Thanks,
Pollizichickens

 

[Onlyducks]

I have Pekins and have had Rouens. I put them outside as soon as possible. My brooder (in my garage) can be as low as 50 degrees at night, even when the ducklings are very young (even the 2 day old ducklings were kept at 55 to 60 degrees). With 16 ducklings, your ducklings will keep each other warm. I moved my Pekins out to the greenhouse because they're so messy but it's still snowing here. The worst thing is if they get wet. Until they have their adult feathers, rain and snow is way too cold for them and they can get sick or die. My Pekins last year had to be moved into the greenhouse for a few days when it got cold and rained. I'm sure others will say 50 degrees is too cold. However, both breeds I have had in the past were always kept between 50 and 70 degrees from the beginning. They didn't shiver, they didn't huddle together or show any other signs of distress. All grew to adult ducks and were never sick.