These pictures are from when my ducklings were 3 weeks old - now they're much bigger and I'll post more pictures tonight (probably) :)
Duckling Pictures...
Here's another one from 3 weeks old....they had gotten too big for the brooder - so we moved them to the "duck house" aka our back shed! :)
....keep in mind these were taken with my camera phone....quality isn't so good!
Beautiful ducks Jean.
What kind of cloth was that back in the brooder. I'm probably going to start using it.
Eric
This message was edited Jul 10, 2007 5:26 PM
Eric -
Actually, it's that non-slip "stuff" that you put in drawers! I found out later (from my mom) that I was supposed to use wood shavings over top of it...because it got slick pretty fast. But it helps for when they move all the shavings out of the way! :)
Oh...and a clarification - the top picture was during their first week...oops! :)
I used the non slip rubbermaid drawer stuff and it worked great, NO problems with it getting slick but I didn't let it sit in the brooder more than a few hours at a time, so there was no build up of feces etc...
I would pull it out and wash it and hang to dry (you can hang it on the fence and hose it off). That way I always had a fresh piece to put in the brooder while one or two others hung to dry. It worked great on both my ducks and my chicks.
After a couple weeks I then changed to just pine shavings. You can put pine shavings under the drawer stuff or paper towels for more absorbency if you are going to leave it in the brooder for an extended period of time. It's great stuff though !!!!!!!!
Many ppl don't like to put chicks and ducklings directly on pine shavings right away because they eat it and some say it can cause impaction in new hatchlings. Everyone has their own theory on what works best for them, just never ever put them on newspaper as you will have problems with splay leg because it truly is slippery.
Good luck Eric
Julie