They won't stop until its gone!!!

[Cornychick]

Ok, I have several ducklings that are a few weeks old and it does not matter how big the waterer is. They will not stop drinking and playing in it until everybit of it is spilled or consumed. Literally. Everyone posts on here that you should have water always available. It is impossible because they do not stop until its gone. I have to water them in the morning before work and they are out within 5 minutes and without water all day until I come home. I water them again and they attack it like pirranahs and I refill it and they repeat the cycle until water is gone from the waterer and all over the place. That's the point where I remove all the soupy shavings and dishes and put down dry shavings for the night. With no water.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Welcome to the world of ducks.

 

[duckling 1234]

Yes, welcome. I know it sucks, I regulate their food and water. It makes things so much easier.

 

[dot n'dave]

For our ducklings we always used a tray under the bowl or waterer. When they were little we took a disposable aluminum cookie tray and put the waterer in it. We also put a little bedding in it because it was a little slippery for them. Now that they are older and have a bigger water bowl, we use the top of a large storage container the same way as a "tray." We were sick of changing the entire bedding and that made it a little better. Don't take their water though, they need it!!!
Good Luck, ducks are amazing!!

 

[Amiga]

Sounds like some adjustments are needed !

My guess is that you may have set up an unintentional cycle that makes the problem worse.

Ducklings need water available at all times.

Ducklings splash.

I have cut down 80 to 90 percent of the wet bedding problem by doing a couple of things.

Please, please let your ducklings have water all the time.

By letting them go without water, you create a panic. (It really is dangerous to their health.) When they are panicked and dehydrated, they will splash much much more. They will also drink too much, too fast, and throw up water all over the place. So if they have water available, and know it will be there, their splashing is not nearly so intense nor frequent, they won't overdrink, they won't throw water up all over.

So what they need is a splash catcher.

I have used a two-piece broiler pan with a washcloth under the waterer. That works very well. You can also place a shallow plastic bin lid under the broiler pan. I have eleven ducklings. The broiler pan held two quart-size waterers or one gallon-size waterer.

The splash-catcher I am using now is a large steel salad bowl with a ricotta cheese tub upside down. I punched a few holes near the top of the cheese tub so water will flow through it. I place the gallon waterer on top of the cheese tub, in the salad bowl (I think the salad bowl is about a two-gallon capacity, about 8 inch diameter).

This lasts them about 15 hours overnight, about four hours during the day. If I had to be away all day, I would set up two.

An advantage of the salad bowl is that if the gallon waterer empties (it has happened for a short spell, perhaps 15 minutes before I caught it), they can still get water from the bowl for a while. They even pushed the empty waterer over and drank directly from the bowl without making any more mess than usual.

Another thing I have done is separate the bedding so that the bedding that is under the waterer does not contact the bedding closer to where they sleep (so the sleeping bedding doesn't absorb water from the bedding under the waterer).

Again, please let them have water all the time. Their personalities will be better, they won't panic when you finally give them water, and they will be healthier.

 

[Amiga]

By the way, could you share how old the ducklings are, how big the waterers are, and how many ducklings and waterers you are using?

 

[Cornychick]

They are 5 weeks old now. You have the impression that I am not giving them water and that is not the case. I have a total of 10 babies that I have divided into 2 groups so they dont have to compete for food and water. I use 1 gallon waterers for each group. They are just obsessed with messing in it until it is all splashed out. I refill it, and rebed them in new dry shavings. I get it. They are waterfowl and love water. That's thier nature. I just was wondering if there was a way to keep water available at all times, or if there were other people out there that had the same behavior from thier ducks as I. I do like the idea of separating the shavings that are catching the spillover from the rest. I will see what I have to rig up. Thanks for the input.