Here’s a quick post addressing some of the questions I get most frequently when we sell ducklings. Most questions apply to anyone who’s considering raising ducks, with some specific to the scenario of buying ducklings from us. For more information, I’d recommend checking out all our duck blog posts.
Housing Ducklings
Ducklings should be housed in a secure, warm, brooder, just like chicks. They will need plenty of water, and be aware that they will splash a lot of the water around the brooder. They like to eat their feed wet, so we soak it beforehand.
Supplies needed include: brooder, heat lamp and heat bulb, shavings, feeder, waterer, and feed.
Feeding Ducklings
Ducklings can eat chick starter. They must also be given nutritional yeast as a supplement because they need additional niacin. We buy nutritional yeast from Amazon. We mix it in with the feed because we soak the feed, so the nutritional yeast dissolves. If you do not wet the feed, then put a small amount of nutritional yeast in a bowl, add water so it dissolves, and put that in the brooder. We offer the nutritional yeast until the chicks are full grown, so a few months.
How To Care for Ducklings
Keep them in a warm, safe brooder with shavings as bedding. Give them ample fresh water and feed. Add fresh shavings as they get dirty. Replace the shavings as needed. That’s it!
Fair Warning: Ducklings Stink
Ducklings are much stinkier than chicks. I think it’s because they have more of a water obsession, so the brooder gets wet, and they have more watery poop. We had the ducklings in a brooder in our garage when we last did ducklings, and it needed cleaning a LOT to not stink. The shavings would get really wet, and I would have to muck out the entire brooder and then refill it with fresh shavings.
Will I definitely get female ducklings?
As far as sexing, the ducklings should be sexed to be female with about 95% accuracy. My last batch was 26 ducklings, and 1 was male. If you end up with a male you can return it for a credit, but honestly there’s no negative to keeping it. I’ve heard that having a male in the flock keeps the females calmer, and then you’d have the option of hatching out your own ducklings in the future. Khaki Campbells don’t really go broody, but you could use an incubator or put some under a broody hen.
Will My Khaki Campbells Fly Away?
I think my chickens fly more than the khaki campbells. My husband and I find the ducks quite amusing because they’ll flap their wings when they’re running fast, and it looks hilarious, but they haven’t flown at all. We have a 4 foot fence, and they’ve never even attempted to fly over it.
Feeding Adult Ducks
Your duck will need to be given feed, and you can use poultry layer feed. They will forage, and we do feed kitchen scraps as well. Honestly, in winter you’ll be feeding a lot. In the summer, you won’t need to feed much. If you have a garden, you can feed the birds the weeds you pull, and parts of plants that are inedible for us, like pumpkin vines.
Layer feed has calcium in it, but I also offer oyster shells to my layers. I also keep the eggshells when I use eggs, bake them for a bit to kill any potential bacteria, crush them, and give them back to the birds for calcium. I’ve found they prefer crushed eggshells to store bought oyster shell. I also have grit available, since the soil around me is clay and there aren’t many small pebbles and rocks naturally occurring.
I feed the ducks their feed as fermented feed, which we’ve posted about. Pretty much, I take a plastic bin, fill it with feed and enough water to be saturated but not runny, and let it ferment for a few days. I scoop from that bin to feed them daily, and add more feed and water. By having the feed already moist, I have virtually no feed waste. The birds can’t pick through it to only eat their favorite bits because it’s all a wet mix. I’d liken it to the difference between eating trail mix and eating oatmeal. I do this for all my birds, but I especially think it’s good for the ducks since they naturally eat wet food.
Housing Ducks
One of the great things about ducks is that they don’t have as many housing requirements as chickens do. Ducks need some walls to keep out predators, a nesting area, and that’s about it. No roosts, no involved nesting boxes. Ducks are also much better in the cold, so the housing doesn’t have to be that insulated. Read about our duck house here.
The duck house
What about a pond?
We use a concrete mixing tub from Home Depot that is a plastic bin about 2ft by 3ft, and 6 inches deep. From my research, a small “pool” like that is best because you can easily empty and refill it frequently, keeping the water cleaner. It’s been plenty for our ducks.
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