When to order ducklings?

[Picklepuss]

I'd like to order ducklings this spring. We live in CT and I want to order only about 10. I'm not sure when the best time to order them is. We will need to keep them in the garage as we don't have room in the house. A heat lamp is not an issue at all but even with the heat lamp I'm worried about them being too cold.

 

[fogbubble]

I'm not sure about all the other hatcheries, but Holderreads doesn't ship until spring anyway. Order early (maybe now) because they do sell out.

 

[Amiga]

Greetings, neighbor!

I live in Connecticut, also, and have ordered my ducklings from Meyer Hatchery - 10 runner females, due to arrive around 3/22. I have set up a brooder in the guest room - a large Rubbermaid bin - about 5 ft long, 2 ft wide, 18 inches high. I cut a 6 ft section of 1/2 inch hardware cloth and flattened it out, wrapped the cut ends in duck tape (natch), and am using a 30 watt and a 60 watt ceramic heating bulb to keep the brooder at various temperatures (90 initially, then cooling to 80, 70, 60, . . .)

I don't plan to let them outside till they have some real feathers and the weather cooperates. If we have unusually mild days, they will get field trips. But I don't reckon they will be in their own house until they are a couple of months old.

There are many factors involved, and I am likely to need to rethink my "excellent plan,"

but there is a nice spot in the basement where I can keep them warm enough using temporary fence, bedding and the ceramic heaters if necessary. We have a big window in the basement, it is not like a dungeon!

Drop a PM line if you wish - nice to know of folks relatively close by. We can talk fence and waterers and such!

 

[Amiga]

As far as your garage being warm enough, may I suggest you set it up as if you already had the ducklings, and put a thermometer or three in the area you would have the little ones.

Watch it for a few days - is it warm enough?

I have a min-max thermometer, and I used it to calibrate the brooder I set up. It really took a load off my mind to know well in advance that I can keep that area warm enough. (back up plan - if we lose power, we have a woodstove, and the brooder is portable and can be made cat-resistant.

Holderread has written that they will need to be 90 degrees the first week, then drop five degrees a week as they grow. This is rule of thumb - if they huddle under the heat source they are too cold, if they stay away from it, they are too warm.

Also, drafts are the enemy with little ducks. There is inexpensive material you can buy or find to keep the drafts off of them.

So exciting, isn't it? Have you decided on breed, color?

 

[dot n'dave]

We live in Ct also, and as you know the weather around this time of year is crazy!
We currently have 6 one month old ducklings in the basement,(they've been in there since one week old) and they are doing just fine. We put them in a huge plastic storage container with wood shaving bedding, a foil pan(to keep the entire container from being soaked) with a water feeder in it, and a window screen over top of hte container. They are feathering out nicely and our plan is to put them outside around the first week of March. Yes, the place stinks, yes they drench everything, yes they're getting big fast, but its priceless when they hear you walking though the house and they give a quack chorus to get your attention.

I think you could defintely order them soon, just keep them warm like everyone else said!

 

[dot n'dave]

I forgot to say, the ducks seem quite hardy, even when they're young, at least thats what we saw.

 

[Sweetfolly]

Quote:
Holderread's starts shipping at the end of March and goes through early June (sometimes later into the summer if you shoot them an e-mail and ask). Their minimum order is 10. However, if you want some of the rarer varieties, order as early as possible. I sent my spring 2010 order with Holderread's last August - which may have been a wee bit early, but I wanted to be first on the list for my ducklings! I'm very impatient!

In short, Picklepuss (LOVE the user name, by the way!), no matter where you're ordering from, I'd suggest sitting down with a catalog or browsing a website and getting your order in now. Ducks have been getting a little more popular lately, as people have become more interested in living more self-sustainably and raising their own birds. Even the big hatcheries sell out.

 

[toadbriar]

I'm in northern MA on the NH line and we haven't got a garage, so I'll be paying close attention to how to time things. I'm tending towards getting a dozen eggs mailed and incubating them (another first time adventure for me!) The brooder will be in my studio...it will be an interesting adventure to say the least!

-kim

 

[Amiga]

Real life may surprise me, but I ordered the ducklings (10 runners, chocolate and black) for delivery as day-olds on 3/22 because I reckoned that by 6 to 8 weeks they would be ready to go outside overnight. And that would be about mid to late May. Most years, the weather is not too bad in Connecticut around that time. The migratory birds have mostly returned by then.

We do get some surprise nasty weather from time to time, so I have a backup plan - the walkout basement with the big window.

Anyway, that was my algorithm for ordering. And yes, I would go ahead and order now - you can order now for delivery the end of the summer, if you wish, from the hatcheries I am aware of. But I think letting them know very soon will help them plan and ensure that you get what you most desire.

By the way . . . . .

I have a new reason to be excited about getting ducks again . . . .

duck people are just . . . well, really fun. What a neat crowd!