Brooding Ducklings

Heat Lamps

It's best to use a heat lamp that has a guard that will keep the bulb from touching anything should it fall. We bought ours from Premier One Supplies.

You can also use a heat plate which is a lot safer and more natural. The only reason we didn't use one for these ducklings is it's too small for the number of ducklings we bought.

To start with, hang the heat lamp just high enough so the ducklings aren't huddling under it after a little bit, but no lower than 12 inches. If you have it at 12 inches and they are still huddling under it, you will either need to add a second lamp or insulate the brooder more.

Bedding

For the bedding, it is best to use a somewhat fine and very absorbent material. Fine wood shavings, saw dust, or peat moss work well. Ducklings don't scratch like chicks, so you only need to put down about 2-3 inches of the bedding and add more as it gets dirty. It is only necessary to clean the brooder out when the bedding level get higher than the brooder can hold.

Feed

Ducklings that are artificially brooded are prone to a vitamin B6 (niacin) deficiency since they usually don't have access leafy greens or the little critters they would naturally eat, which would supply this vitamin.

To prevent this from happening I recommend that you feed duckling specific feed until they are able to go outside.

Kelp does contain B6, so if you are unable to find duckling feed you can mix chick feed with 2% by weight of kelp. We are able to get duckling feed, but we still are giving them kelp to make sure they are getting all the other vitamins and minerals they need.

While it isn't strictly necessary to supply them with grit if they are only eating either chick or duckling crumbs, it will increase their health if you do provide it.

Water

A ducklings favorite! We use regular drown proof chick waterers as long as we can, but their bills (and amount of splashed out water) quickly outgrow them. After about a week you can either switch to a small adult chicken waterer or a rubber tub.

The important thing is that they don't run out of water, and they are able to get almost their whole bill in it, but also that they don't drown.

Don't worry too much about how dirty they get the water as long as you clean it out twice a day, they should be fine. Ducks have stronger immune systems than chickens and can drink very dirty water without getting sick.

Going Outside

If the nighttime temperatures are above 65 degrees, you should be fine putting them out at about 10 days. If the lows are between 50 and 65 degrees, wait until they are two weeks old, and below that wait until they are three weeks old.