I wrote on using sand in here.- 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.
