What do we need for 10 ducklings?

[andrea1215]

New to poultry, but our two oldest daughters are going to show ducks in 4h this year. We just ordered ten ducklings (scheduled to hatch on April 6th) from Metzer last night, 2 Pekins, 2 Rouen, 2 Welsh Harlequin, 2 Cayuga and 2 Blue Swedish, all are suppose to be females. We want to start buying things now, as the girls are very excited. How large of a brooder will we need for 10 ducklings? Should we buy a heat lamp or an EcoGlow? How much waterfowl starter crumbles should we anticipate them going through each week and what is the best kind? Do ducks need wormed or vaccinated? Sorry for all the questions, we just want to ensure healthy and happy ducks, thanks in advance!

 

[Buck Oakes]

oh yay, i'm not 4h nor was i ever, I've raised ducks without a manual by myself since i was 8 and my first ducks were rouens so yeah..

anyway first of all a cardboard box would be the best brooder for the first 2 to 3 weeks with a heat lamp, you'll need to hang the heat lamp over the box of course, and leave the sides un lighted, because i they get to hot they can move away from the center of the box. make sure they don't have access to water all day, if they drink to much they can get over hydrated and die, usually every hour or so put a small container usually a peanut butter top in the box with some water and since you'll have 10 you will probably need 2 tops of water, and also make sure they only get food when they have water, they will need food every hour to hour and a half. and if they don't eat it in that time its fine that just means they're not hungry. For the bottom of the brooder i would recommend paper towels since wood chips can get in their respiratory passage ways and they are small enough o east the small chips, and no hay or pine straw till they are 4 weeks, so paper towels and you'll need about 5 layers of paper towels so it want sail the box and maybe more layers, and you should change the box every week till they can go outside at 4 weeks that is if they're big enough. the food has to be nondedicated chick starter and i would recommend purina but there are a lot of other brands out there as well. and also make sure the box is long enough, and wide enough for 10 ducklings, plus tap up the sides of the box so they can't jump out

 

[Richb353]

Welcome Andrea,
For the batch of 20 ducklings I received last March, I used a 5' round kiddie pool placed in my shed, hung a heat lamp to one side, used an old Frisbee as a food tray, a one quart waterer, and placed a layer of hay inside the pool.

For the first few days I would replace the hay once a day. Here in Florida, there was no concern for cold casualties, so by their second day they were no longer using the heat lamp For the first week they always had access to food and water. By the second week the twenty little fertilizer factories needed to have that hay replaced twice daily and their food and water was replaced constantly. What a difference a week makes. By the third week they were in their new outdoor pen, but only allowed to roam with supervision.

Oddly, I used Purina Layena crumbles from day one with all my ducks. They were obviously not laying so young, but you can find it unmedicated, with 16%+ protein, and it was probably on sale when I was at the feed store that day. I heard of the issue with saw dust, but was unaware of hay or water being an issue with young waterfowl. Thankfully, I never had any issues.
Enjoy,
Rich

 

[Amiga]

New to poultry, but our two oldest daughters are going to show ducks in 4h this year. We just ordered ten ducklings (scheduled to hatch on April 6th) from Metzer last night, 2 Pekins, 2 Rouen, 2 Welsh Harlequin, 2 Cayuga and 2 Blue Swedish, all are suppose to be females. We want to start buying things now, as the girls are very excited. How large of a brooder will we need for 10 ducklings? Should we buy a heat lamp or an EcoGlow? How much waterfowl starter crumbles should we anticipate them going through each week and what is the best kind? Do ducks need wormed or vaccinated? Sorry for all the questions, we just want to ensure healthy and happy ducks, thanks in advance!

Plan for expansion! I started my eleven with a 2ft x 5ft x 2 ft deep Rubbermaid bin - two weeks later a puppy playpen, two weeks later doubled the size of that, and that was large enough till they moved into their adult pen.

Plan for water! They will need a watering station, because they are waterfowl. WATERfowl

These may help

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/641902/created-a-water-saver-for-my-duck-brooder

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/679433/water-water-everywhere/10

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/858161/feed-water-solution-for-brooder#post_12901321

http://frankiemakes.blogspot.ca/2012/06/watering-solution-for-ducks.html

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/259876/do-your-ducks-have-water-at-night/10#post_13568197


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