Waterer and Feeder for Ducks? What do you use?

[downeastthunderfarm]

I am totally new to ducks. We've got four ducks that will be going outdoors within the next week. They'll have a house with attached pen in which they can move about at will day or night. We plan to water and feed them outside to keep their bedding cleaner. My question is, what type of container do you use to water and feed your ducks? Do you use waterers and feeders similar to what you use with chickens? Or do you use pails/bowls? We're not looking to the automatic waterer yet - we just want something simple and are not sure the best choice to make for ducks.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[AccentOnHakes]

The same as chickens will work fine.

However, I'd recommend having an extra waterer--ducks NEED water to rinse out their nostrils.

 

[dianaross77]

I use a baby pig feeder for their pellets. For the water, I would recommend a large container with a lid (5 gallon bucket, plastic tote). Cut a hole in the container just big enough for the duck to reach their head in. My ducklings(2) are almost 6 weeks old. I use a gallon milk jug laid on its side with a hole cut in the side. When they were small, I laid it so the hole was on the front. Now that they're bigger and drink more water, I use it with the hole on the top side.

edited to add: Don't make the hole too big or the ducklings will crawl inside and can drown. For multiple ducklings you could cut a few holes in a row so more than one can drink at a time. A 1/2 gallon jug would be perfect for day old ducklings.

 

[Oregon Blues]

For the adult ducks, their feed goes into a feeder made for geese. It's basically a tall cylinder and the feed falls out the bottom into a tray. Same as a chicken feeder, but the spaces are bigger.

Water is in multiple sources. Vacuum waterers from 3-7 gallons. 3 gallon food grade buckets that they can get their entire head and neck into and not their body, so they can't poop in it. Low sided Rubbermaid storage containers that they can get into and out of easily for full body bathing. A 200 gallon sheep tank for swimming.

Mine have a 7 gallon waterer inside their night pen. It is set on a water well so that there is no mud involved and the pen stays dry. My water well is a box made of 2X10, buried so it sticks up 3 inches above ground and then filled with gravel. So far, I don't have hardware cloth over it, but might have to add it unless the ducks stop scattering the gravel all over.

 

[nickie]

I use a chicken waterer in their house, a stock pot in the yard (dogs like that too) and of coarse I dug an extra deep backyard water feature with a highway rock waterfall for bathing and drinking. Their food is in a wide ceramic thing, plus they free range all the time. Simple as that.

 

[Ahab]

I use a Little Giant 2550 automatic waterer mounted to a post I can move around in their pasture (hooked to a garden hose, a pressure reducer, and 50 feet of 1/4-inch tubing), and there are three wading/dabbling pools made from the cutoff bottoms of big plastic barrels scattered around in shady spots. These get filled with water once a day by bucket (or hose if they're in range), and the old water gets bucketed to the garden for nitrogen-hungry plants.

 

[cHiCk3n 1AdY]

Which is best for mandarin ducks?