Topic of the Week - Raising and Caring for Ducklings

[lena_]

Very interesting topic of the week
I have many ducks, and unfortunately all of them are very bad parents. If you let them roam, the babies die of cold, malnutrition (It's very difficult to feed one single duck mother and her little ones, without the whole flock coming over) predators, or simply getting separated from mum. If you put them in a cage mum will trample the babies out of stress, or will escape with the babies. This is why I always find the nests early on, and give them to a broody hen.
My first muscovy hen, Esmerelda was an excellent mother, all of her twelve babies surviving to maturity. However, Essie was sold (Without my consent) and her daughter began laying. She hatched ten beautiful babies in the morning before school, and all of them (except baby Vanilla Creamy that I adopted, the gray and yellow baby in my profile pic) were gone when I got home from school six hours later.
My ducks are completely free range, we only feed them and take care of medical issues. For a short time we tried to contain them all in a pen, but they managed to escape that. On a side note is nine drakes to eighteen ducks an okay ratio? They seem to split off into groups, with a dominant drake or two leading a group of a few females. There was one group where two cauga brothers had some ladies, and didn't fight.

I have a drake named Guliver that was raised by two hens. When he was an adult he had no issues with transitioning into the duck flock. I raise my ducklings for the first week or so on wet layer pellets with grass and egg yolk supplements. After about the first three weeks i'll feed them wet kibble maize, barley maize and molasses, and layer pellets. Never had an issue. Because we are on alternative power, instead of a heat lamp I use a hot water bottle. Sorry for the long post and happy ducklings!!

 

[BantyChooks]

- Kitting out and setting up the duckling brooder, temperature for brooding, etc.
For the first week, or maybe less, I raise ducklings inside. Rubber totes or c&c cubing work well. Sand is great bedding for ducklings IF you are willing to scoop it out 1--2x daily, if not, shavings are a good idea. As for brooding temperature, I just stick a heat lamp in one corner and that's good. Ducks need way less heat than chooks. I've even raised 3 day olds outside without heat before. The usual caution applies that if you see them peeping and huddling you do need to give them more heat. After that first week, get them outside! This is especially nice if you have any quantity of them at all. I had 9 this summer, and I would have gone batty if I raised them indoors for a month. Put them in a pen with no bottom, just a skirt, and move it daily so they have fresh grass to poop on.

- Feeding ducklings - What to feed, treats, etc.
Purina flock raiser crumble is good, I think. I don't give them treats until they're outside, and then at that point they get whatever I throw the rest of the flock. I have in the past raised ducklings on regular chicken starter with no supplements but I now hear that's bad.

- Watering the ducklings
Ooh, now for the bad part, eh? Ducks are wicked messy and anything that will keep their brooder clean is elaborate and time consuming. I cut a hole in a cottage cheese container or a milk jug, and change it out weekly as they grow. Be careful, though, I once had a duckling get inside a milk jug through an impossibly small hole and I couldn't get her out again. I had to cut the jar open.

- Supplements?
Niacin, if you're using chook feed.

- Bathing/swimming
I start letting them float in the water a bit when they're a week or two old. Never leave them unsupervised, they don't have the water proof coating momma duck puts on them, so they can get waterlogged and drown.

- Raising tame ducks
I don't worry about this much, but the best way I've found is to not force handing. They hate that and hate you. I let them come to me. The best way to get a ducks attention is to be focused on something else, like fixing the doorstep on the coop. Ducks are curious critters, they'll be at your side in seconds trying to help. Don't acknowledge them, keep working. They are more sensitive to body language than chickens.

- Raising ducklings under a momma duck
Never done that in my own coop, sorry. Neighbours had a bunch of ducks at one point, mostly mallard crosses, and they raised their own on the pond with no interference other than a bit of feed tossed out there.

- Introducing ducklings to older flock mates
After a week or so in the outdoor brooder I let them free range with the rest of the birds. At this point, my chickens pretty much roll their little eyes and let more babies into the flock, but in case your birds are less tolerant supervise them for a bit.

 

[Henrik Petersson]

- Introducing ducklings to older flock mates
After a week or so in the outdoor brooder I let them free range with the rest of the birds. At this point, my chickens pretty much roll their little eyes and let more babies into the flock, but in case your birds are less tolerant supervise them for a bit.

As for this, I read that muscovy ducks are unusually laid back when it comes to introducing new flock mates. They are not common ducks, and they are most certainly not chickens. With scovies, you can pretty much shove in newcomers as you please, and count on that they'll be welcomed by the older residents.

My only experience with this is as follows: We sold 4 ducklings to a friend. The ducklings turned out to be all male, so we took them back several weeks later, when they were almost fully grown. When we did, our new and old ducks just stood and "said hello" (hissed and bobbed their heads in front of one another) for a few minutes, then all was well.

 

[chickens really]

As for this, I read that muscovy ducks are unusually laid back when it comes to introducing new flock mates. They are not common ducks, and they are most certainly not chickens. With scovies, you can pretty much shove in newcomers as you please, and count on that they'll be welcomed by the older residents.

My only experience with this is as follows: We sold 4 ducklings to a friend. The ducklings turned out to be all male, so we took them back several weeks later, when they were almost fully grown. When we did, our new and old ducks just stood and "said hello" (hissed and bobbed their heads in front of one another) for a few minutes, then all was well.

Yep..I got a White Call Hen from my Pal and two years later a Drake from him..Penelope and Casanova remembered each other and are always together.

 

[BantyChooks]

As for this, I read that muscovy ducks are unusually laid back when it comes to introducing new flock mates. They are not common ducks, and they are most certainly not chickens. With scovies, you can pretty much shove in newcomers as you please, and count on that they'll be welcomed by the older residents.

My only experience with this is as follows: We sold 4 ducklings to a friend. The ducklings turned out to be all male, so we took them back several weeks later, when they were almost fully grown. When we did, our new and old ducks just stood and "said hello" (hissed and bobbed their heads in front of one another) for a few minutes, then all was well.

I have owned scovies too, and they are lovely birds. I am referring to mallard based breeds. They also are quite accepting of newcomers, and I rarely have to have integration periods except when introducing a new drake to existing ones.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Marking my place. . page 3

 

[Miss Lydia]

My Muscovy's act like the Runners and Buffs aren't even ducks. Actually My Muscovy drake who would beat the tar out of another Muscovy drake doesn't even give my Runner drake the time of day. Doesn't try to mate with any of his girls either. It's amazing to me.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

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- Watering the ducklings
Ooh, now for the bad part, eh? Ducks are wicked messy and anything that will keep their brooder clean is elaborate and time consuming. I cut a hole in a cottage cheese container or a milk jug, and change it out weekly as they grow. Be careful, though, I once had a duckling get inside a milk jug through an impossibly small hole and I couldn't get her out again. I had to cut the jar open.
, keep working. They are more sensitive to body language than chickens.

Thanks for the advice! Do you have apic of what this looks like? I cnat seem to figure it out in my head.

Also, what is a good way to supplement Niacin?

 

[BantyChooks]

Thanks for the advice! Do you have apic of what this looks like? I cnat seem to figure it out in my head.

Also, what is a good way to supplement Niacin?

Brewer's yeast, I think? I've never done that, so don't quote me on it.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Thank you!! Perfect.