Baby Ducklings?

Question

We are about to get some baby ducks and geese. what i want to know is what is required to take care of them. we have 5- acres for them to roam if they wish out in the country with a big pond. any taking care of them advice is appreciated

Answer 1

Im going to asume you have an incubator or you are ordering them hatched.

Depending on they're age you will need a brouder.

I sugest a toat with news papwer or shreddings that needs to be changed regularly.

You will need a heating lamp to keep them warm.

If they huddle together under the lamp it is too cold and try putting another in or getting a higher volt bulbe.

and if they try to get away from the lamp its too hot.

I sugest kaytee baby bird formula, easy to get a make at any petco.

when they are older oyu will need to find a suply stoor to get some pelets.

Letice and greens work but you will need ALOT to satisfy them.

it taket atleast 2 heads of letice to satisfy my 3 ducks at each meal, if i have to use letice.

Next for regular housing;

For inside or durring the winter if you dont have heated shelter outside, get a wire botton rabbit cage.

i find it alot better since they are not standing in they're own p**p and its better to prevent foot diseases.

If you want them outside, which i recomend, try building a shelter that racoons and other predators cant get into. They are very trick and you will need a sturdy build.

Make sure to lock them in a cage or small house at night so they cant get eaten..

One more thing.

If they do not have they'r feathers yet ducks dont need water to swim.

they will drown and they're down feathers will get water logged..

hope i helped and covered everything!

GOOD LUCK!!

Answer 2

make sure you throw out plenty of food. They sale food made just for ducks and geese however plain white bread works just fine. If you want to keep them on your 5 acres, you may see a vet about having their wings cliped until you can get them used to you feeding them.

Answer 3

I am not much acquainted with ducks, but we lost some baby chickens because they didn't know how to drink water out of container. They got in the container and died. So I think if I was taking care of baby ducks I would fit them with a proper way of watering them. Also, I would watch out for flying animals as well as crawling and walking ones.good luck to you.

Answer 4

I wonder why people bother answering a question when they have no experience on the subject.  My advice comes from experience. Last year I had 18 ducks by the first freeze.  Now I'm down to 4 adults with 10 ducklings.  I lost some to the snapping turtles in the pond.  If you have any snappers, you need to get rid of them.  I also lost several of my Drakes to neighboring ponds. The males will wander off if they aren't allowed to mate with the local females.  Mine are heavy, flightless ducks and some were hit by cars crossing the street to get to another pond. Mine usually sleep on the back porch, because the turtles feed at night.  I usually find a few eggs and a whole lot of nasty duck p**p just outside the back door every morning.  The eggs are delicious, but hard to crack.

I don't feed the adults during the warm seasons.  They find their food in and around the pond.  The babies get a mash made up of un-medicated game bird feed, grass clippings and dandelions, and some oatmeal.  I chop it up and add a little water.  The brooder is always a mess because they love to splash their drinking water.  After a couple weeks I move them outside to a 6' kennel with a heat lamp and lots of drinking water.  They can be switched to Game bird pellets and whole weeds.  I usually just throw the weeds from the vegetable garden in with them.  They will pick at what they like and pull them apart.  If you have no predators around, you can let them out of the kennel at about 5 or 6 weeks.  Mine come back to the kennel to sleep for a while until they are accepted into the adult group.  

When the weather gets cold and food gets scarce, they start coming to the back door for food.  Predators get more aggressive in the winter and the ducks are very vulnerable when the pond is frozen over.  Once my pond is frozen, I bring the ducks into my barn for the winter.  I lock them in for the night, but leave the door open in the day light. If you have a donkey, mule or horse, the ducks will want to be close to the animal at night.  Horses will protect them from foxes, raccoons, and coyotes.   Outdoor or wild cats will be a big problem if you have any around.  They're not afraid of horses and they will kill several ducks at once, just for fun.

Answer 5

I'm sure you'd want to build some sort of shelter for them, at least.  Don't they normally keep ducks in chicken-coop type boxes?  I know that much.

Answer 6

The fox will love them.