For starters, no one can tell you all you need to know in a quick reply via a forum or email. It is very hard on pets or livestock when people get them before they have done their homework. Please educate yourself about ducks before you get them.

Buy a good book about raising ducks. The Storey guides to raising livestock are generally very good.

Do a search on this site using duck as your keyword. Read all the posts and replies. You will learn a lot. Do a Google search for raising ducks. There is lots of information out there.

You sound sincere in your desire to take good care of your ducklings, so I hope you will make the time and effort to learn how before you buy them.

Start by doing your research. The best book out there on domestic ducks is "Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks". Chris Ashton's "Domestic Ducks" is a very close second.

I agree that you definitely need to research before obtaining the ducklings. That said, at the very least be prepared that ducklings grow into FULL GROWN DUCKS VERY QUICKLY...full-grown ducks who produce ALOT of waste. Duckings also need a heat lamp. Make sure you're ready. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Maria's Duck Tales

Mama duck, like me, you put your email address on this forum. Bad mistake. Contact the forum with the link below and ask that they take out your post. Post again. As for ducks, some quick simple rules: When little, they need a heat source, like a heat lamp. Make sure you don't bake them and they can get away from the heat if they get too hot. Provide shelter. Preditors get them very easily. Give them water and a place for them to get dry. Wet, soggy places breed sickness. Little ducks love to get in the water, give them a pie pan, any deeper and they can drown. Put marbles or rock in the bottom to keep them from drowning. After they are older, you won't have to worry as much, they won't drown. They need to get their little water legs and their oils working to keep them afloat. After they are older, getting quite ugly at this point, I move up to a bigger watering dish. Make sure they can get in and out. If they get in, and then can't get out, they can drown, this applies even when they are older. And while they love the rain, they need to be able to get out of the ran, boom boom boom. You'll do fine. Good luck mama duck. Any more questions, just ask. I don't even want to think how long I have been raising ducks.

Mollymaples has the right ideas. They need water and a warm dry place. Be sure they can easily get out of the water and the wet area around the water pan. Also be sure they can get out from under the heat lamp if it is too warm. You can feed them on chick starter, unless you can find some more specific for ducks. We always did fine with regular unmedicated chick starter mash. Ducks are tough little critters after a few days, you will do fine.

Hello,
Recently I have had 3 baby ducklings hatch from a mama duck i have. I set up hay in a cage outside by my barn with food and water in it. About 5 days after they hatched when i went outside to go check up on them one of my baby ducklings were dead. And i have no clue on how it happened. They all looked healthy, food and water and then they slept under the mama duck at night. Do you think maybe it died at night because it got to cold? Or maybe it starved beacuse it didnt eat? Im not sure what happened Please give me some advice on what you think has happened and how i can prevent it from happening again in the future. Thank you respond as soon as possible please.

We can empathize somewhat as we started with ducklings, but we read alot before we started. Lots of info from this forum to be sure, I'd highly recommend starting wiht feathersite.com. Read EVERYTHING! I think they have a decent section on brooders, etc. Ducks are messy! Fair warning.

(It would help us all to know how old the ducklings, and maybe the breed).

We made a dandy brooder out of a deep plastic bin and a suspended brooder bulb we bought from the feed store, made most adjustable, up or down, via a variety of hooks of different lenghts.

You should also begin thinking about the facilities you'll be providing when they're ready to transitiion. In most areas of the country they'll need protection if you plan to keep em.

lf

Hey duckcrazy,

Mollymaples gave you a lot of good information there. What kind of ducks are you getting?

Ducks are a LOT of fun, but they're also a handful; especially when they're babies. Just read about them before you get them to make sure you still want some (but I'm sure you will!!)

I have only 6 ducks now, but they are all so sweet and I love them. Chicken Starter is what I've always fed all my ducks as babies and it's really good for them. If you possibly can I always keep them in the house in a large cage until they start to grow their little pin feathers, but if you can't just make sure you keep them very warm and give them lots of warm hay (that's what I use for my grown ducks now)

They love water so always make sure they've got some water where ever they are! Just make sure it's not too deep....

You'll have to clean out where they stay every day if they're gonna be in a small area at first as babies, but you'll get use to it! LOL

Just ask us if you've got some more questions...

Genny

How exactly are ducks messy? I keep chickens and have been thinking about ducks for a while now. Are their needs a lot different? Just how big of a pond do you need for them to be happy?
thanks

jenniesue,

Ducks are lots of fun but the mess seems to be worse when housed w/chickens. They are waterfowl so they consume LOTS of water! they will soak your coop and rip through the chickens water faster than you can replace it. The moisture they create is not good in the coop especially over the winter. In the summer I filled a horse watering bucket and in the winter months gave them a heated bucket w/fresh water daily. I think they would do much better separate in their own duck house. They are very entertaining and many are better layers than your chickens. The eggs are great for baking and decorating.

-Sheila

Hi Duckcrazy,

We brooded our ducklings, chicks and goslings last spring in modified plastic storage containers (big ones) under a brooder lamp. We lined the bottom with newspaper to soak up the gross stuff. To prevent them from laying and pecking at the newspaper, we created 'grates' out of 1/2" squ coated cage wire (taped around the edges to cover jaggeness) which were cut to fit the length of the bottom. For a final layer, we placed soft screen material cut also to go the length of the bottom - this to give them good footing and prevent sprattle leg. Our brooder was planned with materials that could be lifted out of, sprayed down & sanitized easilly. We didn't have the luxury of using wood shavings.

This worked well for us as a whole, but once those ducklings discovered their inner passion for water, we found ourselves cleaning the flooring layers & replacing soggy newspaper daily, and twice daily toward the end. They were continuously out of water too since they would 'blow bubbles' and play in their water until it was gone. We had to check the water supply numerous times a day. It was exhausting.

Our runners were much happier the day we moved them to their spacious pen outside, which they share with our two hens. (I can say "hens" now. They're a year old!). I'm glad the hens roost though. In only a week, the bottom of the chicken coop is goop! To ducks, mud is simply succulent! and they see no need to dry off or wipe their feet before 'hitting the straw' for the night. Our coop is designed so that I can muck it out and bleach it down once a week. We provide fresh straw, weekly too. We're in the Pac. NW so while we don't deal with cold temperatures and snow very ofteh, we DO have to battle moisture problems, particularly to protect the health of our chickens.

I gave up on nest boxes for the ducks. The hens keep theirs pristine! I never cringe when collecting chicken eggs. The duck eggs were always more filthy. Their nest boxes became litter boxes and those clumsy feet didn't help. I found it better to just allow them to lay in the fresh straw, and thankfully they've selected a laying corner away from the corner they use to dirty in.

They're great layers though. Every bit as dependable as our hens. They eat lots of slugs -no shortage of those in these parts, and a kiddy pool was about the best $6 I've ever spent. We give them a fresh pool of water daily, they drink and bathe in the same water, so we provide raised watering containers for the hens (fortified with molasses/vinegar).

Since we have so much rain, I've been experimenting with the deep litter method on the ground outside of the coop - in the pen area (see Roberta's? post, "Big fan of.." for details). I saved all the fall leaves in piles and add a layer now and then over the muddy ground. I also spread layers of the cleaner straw from the coop after I clean it out. I can see it all composting slowly. THere's just so much moisture here that I worry about all the bacteria and bird doo mingling with mud. As I said, ducks love mud and spend a lot of time snuffing around in it. I therefore keep the muddy ground heaped with straw and leaf matter. The chickens churn it up pretty good. I think it's working.

Our ducks are total characters though. Like cartoons! They're RJ's favorite on our lil hobby farm. They're very patterened animals though. Once you've established a routine, don't go changing!

Hope our experience was helpful. Of all the birds we keep, they are the most challenging with regards to cleanliness, but the best behaved (easiest to work with) I think.

Best of luck!

LF