Raising and caring for ducklings

[Amiga]

If I understand correctly, chicken scratch is mostly corn and oats - really, not much nutrition, mostly calories. Go with a starter crumble and add poultry vitamins to their water once a week if they are younger than 3 weeks old. In this case, I would say younger than 4 weeks, because they need to catch up, nutritionally. Then switch to a grower-maintenance, and a month before the girls start laying (they will start trying to mate about a month before laying), set out free choice crushed oyster shell.

 

[tomynoks]

Good info. I have Daves book, but always happy to see people spreading the word that medicated feed is ok for ducks. So many people say it's not.

 

[FaerieGlynne]

Hey all! I've been reading a lot this past month in preparation for getting ducklings in spring. My 4 duckling brooder will be set up like this:
In a very secure large shed in my back yard I will have the brooder. The shed will be enclosed in electrical fencing. Inside I will be using a kiddie pool filled with hay (that's ok right?) surrounded by something, probably some small wire fencing I have left over from potato cages. There will also be extra hay bales stacked around, and the whole shed will become their hutch so it will be set up safely for them if they get out.
My question is about the heat lamp. What would you recommend for the $20-30 range? What type of bulb? Does it really not bother them being exposed to light 24/7? Sounds horrible! And do you really just use a thermometer and move the light up or down accordingly to adjust to temperature? If so, then do you recommend weekly?
Pretty basic stuff for all you experts, I feel kind of silly asking

 

[Amiga]

Hey all! I've been reading a lot this past month in preparation for getting ducklings in spring. My 4 duckling brooder will be set up like this:
In a very secure large shed in my back yard I will have the brooder. The shed will be enclosed in electrical fencing. Inside I will be using a kiddie pool filled with hay (that's ok right?) surrounded by something, probably some small wire fencing I have left over from potato cages. There will also be extra hay bales stacked around, and the whole shed will become their hutch so it will be set up safely for them if they get out.
My question is about the heat lamp. What would you recommend for the $20-30 range? What type of bulb? Does it really not bother them being exposed to light 24/7? Sounds horrible! And do you really just use a thermometer and move the light up or down accordingly to adjust to temperature? If so, then do you recommend weekly?
Pretty basic stuff for all you experts, I feel kind of silly asking

@FaerieGlynne

Please don't feel silly. There are many different ways of doing it right, and some mistakes along the way. The learning curve is steep, and I have found the experience intense.

I raised eleven Runners from day-olds. Two that reached adulthood died of internal problems. One we know was egg yolk peritonitis, the other, we don't know, but I suspect hardware disease. The other nine are now nearly six years old - still laying in the warmer weather, and just as amazing, precocious, fabulous as the day they hatched.

So - about the heat lamp. I had raised reptiles before the ducklings came along. Minerva made it to 29 years old, in fact. But I had ceramic heat lamps from keeping Minerva warm without keeping her exposed to light all the time. Those are pricey, but as far as I know, within your budget. You may even be able to pick some up from a former reptile keeper, yourself.

Your setup sounds good. We have no outbuildings, so our brooder was in the guest room. What I learned was that ducklings grow unimaginably fast. The first brooder was a 2ft by 5 ft Rubbermaid tub with a metal hardware cloth lid (I made the lid) to keep ducklings in, cats out, and to hold the heat lamps. Among other things, I learned that wet bedding brings the brooder temperature down about ten degrees F.

They outgrew that in two weeks. Actually, in about ten days. Then I bought puppy playpen, that is eight two-foot wide coated wire panels. Two weeks later, I bought another puppy playpen (happily, they are expandable that way). And that was finally big enough to hold them comfortably till we were able to get them in to their own shelter.

Please keep in touch! We all love reading about duckies!

 

[tomynoks]

Help please!! Haha. I eggs are at day 23 and my incubator has a slight rotten smell. It may just be the water but I'm wondering if I may have a bad egg. I e candled most of them and they look viable. Is this normal?? Thanks!

 

[Amiga]

I am not a hatcher, but I'll share thoughts.

They are not on lockdown, doesn't sound like, so I'd do a sniff test of each egg. Some folks have different senses of smell, so someone with a more sensitive sniffer may be needed. It could be the incubator, I suppose, but that smell indicates there are bacteria and that is not good for any of the eggs.

 

[tomynoks]

I did that already. I have very sensitive olfactory senses. Lol. They smell great!! That's why I think might just be the water. Just wondering if anyone else can relate. Thanks for taking the time to answer!!

 

[tomynoks]

I am not a hatcher, but I'll share thoughts.

They are not on lockdown, doesn't sound like, so I'd do a sniff test of each egg. Some folks have different senses of smell, so someone with a more sensitive sniffer may be needed. It could be the incubator, I suppose, but that smell indicates there are bacteria and that is not good for any of the eggs.

OH AMIGA!!!!! YOU WERE SO RIGHT!!!! I gave them all another sniff test... very slowly and determined.... and I found the culprit... Poor little duckling... It looks like it was developing fine...but must be dead in the egg.. I just candled all of them, and they look good, but one looks very under-developed... I'll know for sure in the next few days.. Last turn is tonight at midnight!!

Thank you AMIGA!!!

 

[Amiga]

Oh, sad . . . glad you found it, though. Hatching is not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. But if we are involved in life, we are involved in death… Good you could get that out of there so it would not hurt the others.

I let my ducks that go broody sit on duds. After a week or two, I start sniffing the eggs. Only once have I missed one, that I can recall, and peeee yew!

Had to refurb the whole nest.

Something else I do (in case someone is reading this later) is check the weight of the broody duck. They can let themselves loose too much weight, I have read somewhere. So I also make sure to give them extra treats.

I recently got a baby/pet scale to be able to actually weigh them - I used to just pick them up and feel their body condition. And that works pretty well, really. But to make sure Romy has been gaining weight (she has) after a bout of not feeling on top of her game, I went with a scale.

Off topic, I know. But it's related to hatching…...

 

[FaerieGlynne]

Thanks Amiga! I may be able to spring for the ceramic bulb, I think I already have an old heat lamp somewhere from some frogs I kept.

I'll take lots of pics to share my journey, but I was planning on putting the food and water on the screen platforms to hopefully cut down on wet, but I will be home and around almost 24/7 and I've found an app where I can use an old iPhone as a nanny! Woot!