Kirsten Here is a basic outline of what is required for raising your new ducklings, plus my recommended products for giving them the best care possibly.
Please note this article contains links to products found on Amazon AU. It’s up to you where you purchase your items from.
If you are hoping to purchase ducklings from us we will need to see your brooder setup before purchase to ensure they are going to a suitable new home.
BROODER SETUP
Your new ducklings will need a safe enclosed area which will keep them warm. If using a cage please ensure the wire is not big enough for them to poke their heads through and does not have any sharp bits of wire poking out. Ducklings are quick and they like to try and pop through the wire if possible or get frightened.
I normally start day old ducklings in a small brooder with clear perspex front to monitor them for the first day or two. I start by using old hand towels or puppy pee training pads as it provides a nice flat surface for them to walk on. But it soon messes up very quickly and the humidity from all the water and splashing fogs it up, so its not ideal for long term use. After a few days of making sure no one has any leg issues, I switch to either wood shavings or sugar cane mulch. If you are receiving ducklings over a few days old this will not apply to you.
After a couple of days I will move the ducklings into a soft puppy play pen tent like pictured below as they have no wire and are easy to clean. These are easily available from Kmart, Bunnings or Amazon AU.
DUCKLING HEATING
By using a heat plate you are ensuring less risk of over heating the ducklings, or causing a fire in your home. You can adjust the height of the heat plate as they grow. Ducklings grow very quick and you will notice around three weeks of age that they probably won’t be using the heat plate as much.
CREATING A WET & DRY AREA
You will realise by this stage just how messy ducklings can be! I recommending having both a wet and dry area for your ducklings. I accomplish this by pegging two separate play pens together and allowing them access through the two open doors.
Perhaps you can think of some other nifty idea to create two separate areas. I know some people use two big plastic storage tubs and cut a hole in both, and attach a tube for them to walk though. Otherwise you will just have to clean out the wet wood shavings more regularly. A tray with mesh on top may also be a good option for catching water spills, I’ve found the puppy training tray shown below works in a similar way.
Please remember ducklings are messy, but they can not help it. If you don’t have time to regularly clean the brooder then please don’t get ducklings. It’s up to their owners to care and look after them the best way you can by keeping it dry, clean and preventing illness.
I keep the wood shavings and heat plate in the dry area.
In the wet area I put their food and water in. I line the floor with cut up feed bags as they are easy to hose off outside. I use trays and plastic puppy pee trays to catch any water. Then I hose out the wet area daily as it gets very poopy and full of wet feed. But at least the dry area with wood shavings remain dryer and cleaner for longer and won’t need to be changed as often. It won’t stay completely dry from them walking back and forth, but it sure makes a world of difference.
FEEDING YOUR DUCKLINGS
Aside from providing fresh water daily (sometimes multiple times a day – they drink and splash alot!) your ducklings will require a high quality duckling feed which includes niacin and other vitamins. I recommend feeding them Laucke & Mills Duck & Goose Starter.
Please don’t feed ducklings medicated chick starter. If you decide to feed them unmedicated chick starter you will need to supplement them with brewers yeast or nutritional yeast. Vella make a herbally medicated chick and duckling starter which is safe to feed them , however I personally feel the niacin content should be much higher so you will need to still probably supplement them with brewers yeast when feeding this.
Ducklings grow so fast and are more prone to leg problems due to niacin deficiencies. The duck & goose starter may be more expensive but you will end up spending more on supplementing brewers yeast or poultry vitamins later down the track if they do get niacin deficiencies.
POULTRY VITAMINS
I always keep some type of poultry vitamins on hand and like to give our ducklings some in the first few days after hatching. Generally speaking though, if your ducklings are healthy and fed quality feed with vitamins included you shouldn’t really need to use poultry vitamins. Please read the label for dosage instructions. The vitamins can be added to their drinking water. We use either Anitone or Vetsense Avi-Vital on our farm.
MOVING DUCKLINGS OUTSIDE
Around 4 weeks of age you can move your ducklings to an outside coop. Obviously if the weather is cooler you may want to wait until they are older and fully feathered. Make sure that the space you provide is secure from other chickens, ducks or animals. Drakes can cause serious injury to younger ducks when being introduced too early on. I usually keep all ducklings separate from the flock until around 10 weeks of age. I keep them alongside so that they can still see each other, but the drake cannot mate or cause injury to them.
Provide a draft free area for them to sleep in with bedding such as hay, wood shavings or sugar cane mulch. They may not use it but it’s there if they need it.
At this age you can provide a small paddling pool of water in their enclosure, but please ensure that they ducklings can hop in and out of it easily. Although they are waterfowl there is still the risk of them drowning.
Monitor them the first few times you allow your ducklings to go swimming. Small plastic pools are the most easiest to clean as you can just tip the water out, hose and refill.
That’s all folks! I hope this article helps, and if you have any questions after reading this please feel free to contact me.
