Hi, I just got my new ducklings, and was thrilled that they arrived in Alaska, from California, in less than a day. I got them from Metzer farms and they had a hatch time of 7am and I recieved them at 6pm the same day! Healthy babies all. If you've housed these little guys you know what a mess they make with water. I used a dog shipping crate, opened it up (took the screws out) and used wire ties to face the two door ends together. I put the water in one side and nice clean hay in the other. They have no trouble crossing over and all the spilled water is contained in the 'wet' side. I put the heat source on the dry side. I'm really pleased with it, so thought I'd pass it on. You could do the same with boxes I think. Does anybody have any tips on what might be good bedding on the wet side? I've tried hay, straw and newspaper. All seem to be soaked immediately. Newspaper is the easiest to change. We also have had good luck putting them outside early by stapling clear plastic to the outside of a 4x4x8 wire pen we have. It's warm and keeps the wind off of them. We just cut windows till it warms up enough to do away with the plastic altogether. Hope this helps someone! Happy Spring, Jill

-- Jill Schreiber (schreiber@santanet.com), April 26, 2000

Answers

Morning Jill, newspapers seem to work the best for me. Baby birds are messy, and water fowl are the messiest. Shavings and sawdust would absorb the wet better, but they'd most likely eat it. Hay and straw can be difficult for them to get around in. Sounds like you've got a nice system going with your 2 dog crates. Good luck with them. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), April 26, 2000.

Two years ago I raised chicks on sand for the first time. I had a hundred chicks in a 4 x 8 enclosure with a brooder over it. Ducklings ARE the messiest...I haven't tried the sand with them but it should work. The next time I would try to get coarse sand or tiny gravel. I also had very few problems with pasting.

-- Peg (NW WI) (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), April 26, 2000.

Thanks Jill for the info. We just ordered our chicks and geese from you know where for you know how much!!so am glad to see another alternative. Also good idea as to what to do with all those dog kennels stored here and there. I've been wondering just how to separate the chicks from the goslings. Thanks again. Norma in DJ

-- Norma lucas (trooper806@webtv.net), April 26, 2000.

we didn't give our ducklings any water to swim in until they were at least a month old, it may have been as late as six weeks. They don't have the oil in their feathers to keep them from getting soaked to the skin. When a duck mothers them, she coats them with the oil from her own feathers, or they'd die. In a house situation they might not get hypothermia, but we decided to play it safe and just gave them drinking water, in some tofu tubs filled with small stones and marbles, so that they could drink around the marbles but not sit in the water. It would be easier and more practical, though, to make a watering trough with wire on top so they could drink through the wire but not get their heads stuck, and not sit in the water and get it dirty. Even so, they were messy,and their droppings are very wet and liquid, so we moved them out into the greenhouse as soon as it was warm enough.For bedding, you could try peat moss, someone suggested it to me for goat bedding. It is supposed to be just like a sponge. You might want to watch and see if they try to eat it, though, it may not be good for them.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), April 27, 2000.