The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: seldomseen on June 29, 2011, 08:26:59 pm
-
Well today we finally got some ducklings....15 of them as a starter to see how we go....
All I know about ducks is that they taste good and make a hell of allot of noise whilst they are alive.......
help...... how do I look after them, well blame the fact that I got paid for some English lessons at the same time as the van selling ducks drove past lol
-
Ok, basics. They need water, food, shelter and safety.
Although I have a burn running through the garden mine are in a secure run, with an old dog kennel to live in, no door, but a large dog cage attached, and they are shut in overnight. Shed is filled with straw and shredded paper. The run did have grass but there's a lot of it gone. ::) They have a hard plastic childrens' paddling pool to puddle about in. I feed mine layers pellets, bread, vegetable on short date from the supermarket. They get to roam round the front paddock (about half an acre) fro about 4 hours a day, and they occasionally go down to the burn but don't stop in it. I have four girls and a boy and get 4 eggs a day. HTH
-
we have about the same, but temporary as we are saving up for chicken wire (its megga expensive in Crimea), as they are so small, only 4 days old we lock them up when the sun starts to go down inside a big box and in the summer kitchen, fed on starter flaked pellets and what looks like gentian violet water, not allowing them near any water as its BAD news around here apparently until they get feathers (thats what the locals say anyway)
-
Water's bad news for fluffy ducklings with no mum as the fluff isn't waterproof - they get that from mum's feathers. So until they have their own feathers they'd get waterlogged and sink :o
They're fine at this age with just clean, fresh drinking water. When they get a bit older, they (and you ;D) will get loads of fun from a shallow dish of water they can climb in and out of easily (pie dishes and roasting pans are perfect :D)