when can my ducklings go outside??

[Crazyland]

All of mine are outside as of 3 weeks of age. They have not had any heat either. I lock them in the dog crate at night and they get no food or water from 10pm until 6am. They are all doing just fine and growing fast! I changed from the gallon waterer to the milk jug. Best thing I ever did IMHO.

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

Alright, I keep hearing about using a milk jug! How do you do yours exactly? I have a milk jug and am willing to give it a shot, just want to get the design right BEFORE I cut it. lol

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

Alright, I grabbed a two liter bottle, and cut some holes near the top, then tied the bottle to the corner of their inside cage. Looks good, holes are big enough, I am all excited...the ducklings are not.

They are not interested. I don't think they realize they can drink out of it. They will peck the side for a minute, but have no investigated enough to see the holes. I tried splashing my fingers in the water so they know it's there, but no luck.

Will they warm up to it, or?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

As long as they have a heat lamp, and are protected from wind and rain, they can go out now.

 

[Wifezilla]

I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I am that there are no pictures in this thread!

: pout
: pout

(Scruffy teenager ducks are AWESOME!

)

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

These are from last week, but here!

Will get some of my HUGE Pekin teenager later!

 

[Brickman House]

Quote:
Here are ours:

Really simple, but totally ingenious! I got the idea from someone on here, and it makes all the difference in the world in being able to keep the ducklings watered!

 

[Brickman House]

Quote:
As long as the hole is at a level they can stick their heads in, trust me. . . they'll figure it out. My ducklings could find the last splash of water and make a mud pit in the Gobi Desert.

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

Awesome, thank you! Those look great!

I guess my milk jug is not ready yet, but I did whip up something very similar to this using a two liter bottle. HOWEVER I just put it in with the ducklings and they are freaked out by it, and when they finally got the courage to check it out, they can't find the holes. I made them plenty big enough, but they keep pecking the BOTTOM of the bottle, and have no clue how to drink the water.

I assume they will eventually get the hang of it, but as of right now, they ate, and still did not figure out how to drink. Keeping my fingers crossed they get it.

BTW, adorable babies, your black and yellow one looks a little like mine!

 

[Brickman House]

While I'm posting pics, here's a photo of my tween duck set up. They go out to this between 2 and 3 weeks old. It's a sectioned off area of our duckyard:

Our whole duck yard is part of our little hobby orchard, and has a little garden pond in it. I usually give them free run of the entire duck yard at around 5-6 weeks, when they have more feathers, and I thnk they can safely handle the pond:

After a while, I decide who I'm keeping, and who gets sold on, and the keepers join the flock in the main duck house:

So that's about it-- there's no heat out there, and no food and water in the duck houses (really helps keep them clean!). It might be because the duckling house is small (only 3 x 3) and well-bedded, but they do really well out there. They grow strong and hardy, and feather out MUCH faster than they do under the heat lamp in the bathtub.