The Duck Thread

[Miss Lydia]

No newspaper it can cause splay legs. too slick. Here is the link to caring for ducklings, it has a pic of a great easy homemade waterer that will keep them dry and your brooder fairly dry.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/750869/raising-and-caring-for-ducklings#post_10611711

 

[backyardflock1]

Thanks for the tips guys!

 

[jtn42248]

Miss Lydia's advice about towels is the best. Ducklings will splash their water everywhere and your shavings will end up a wet mess along with their poo. Towels you can wash and reuse. As for getting in the water. The most important thing is that they not get chilled when wet. You might try putting a rock or something in the water bowl so that they can't get in but can still dip their bill completely. Also, you are going to have to refill that bowl often. They must always have water to drink. Try to keep them from eating the shavings if you can even if that means having to remove them until they are a little larger and more accustomed to eating their food.

By they way, they are perfect little Christmas Eve Ducklings.

 

[needlessjunk]

So cute! What kind are they?

I used puppy pads for the first few days and then once they knew what food was I used large flake shavings. I used a little feta cheese container that had a lid for the first week and put that inside a rabbit litter pan with pine pellets around to absorbe the water the splashes everywhere.

 

[Miss Lydia]

So cute! What kind are they?

I used puppy pads for the first few days and then once they knew what food was I used large flake shavings. I used a little feta cheese container that had a lid for the first week and put that inside a rabbit litter pan with pine pellets around to absorbe the water the splashes everywhere.

Did you notice your ducklings eating the pellets? I'd be worried they look too much like food and they may eat them.

 

[needlessjunk]

Did you notice your ducklings eating the pellets? I'd be worried they look too much like food and they may eat them.

Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't use them till I put shavings in. Although the pellets were way too big to eat and they were on crumble food. I did worry about that till I compared the size.

 

[jtn42248]

Another thought. Are you feeding them a duck feed that is balanced for ducklings? If not, no problem. You can feed them chick starter feed but you will need to add niacin. You can do this by getting a little brewers yeast and sprinkling a bit on their feed when you feed them. Ducklings need more niacin than is normally found in poultry feeds.

 

[backyardflock1]

I added a towel over the shavings, thanks for the suggestion miss Lydia.

So cute! What kind are they?

I used puppy pads for the first few days and then once they knew what food was I used large flake shavings. I used a little feta cheese container that had a lid for the first week and put that inside a rabbit litter pan with pine pellets around to absorbe the water the splashes everywhere.

they are 2 pekin drakes.

Another thought. Are you feeding them a duck feed that is balanced for ducklings? If not, no problem. You can feed them chick starter feed but you will need to add niacin. You can do this by getting a little brewers yeast and sprinkling a bit on their feed when you feed them. Ducklings need more niacin than is normally found in poultry feeds.

right now we are using the chicken feed, and were going to get some duck feed after Christmas, but now we might not need to do that thanks to your tip, thanks.

 

[attimus]

I used a half gallon plastic oj container with a decent hole cut out of one of the corners of it for water so they wouldn't be able to climb in and flip it over.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I used a half gallon plastic oj container with a decent hole cut out of one of the corners of it for water so they wouldn't be able to climb in and flip it over.

Pics please, always good to have a visual. Sounds like a great idea.