Ducklings

[silhouettestable]

I got myself some ducklings recently, 6 rouens that are now 2 1/2 weeks old. I've never raised ducks before but have lots of experience with chicks and turkeys. My coop has no electricity so I always start them in my basement under a heat lamp and them move them out later. My question is, how long should I keep the ducklings in the house before I can move them out to the coop? Our temperatures have been variable, pretty crazy really. Very up and down. Some days have been around 15C, others only around 10 and yet there have been a few in the mid 20's. Last night we had frost again, but that's only happening occasionally now. The ducklings are growing fast but seem to feather in at a different rate compared to chicks and turkeys, they're still all fuzzy. At this age with the chickens I'd be seeing feathers coming in. I don't want to rush them out too soon and get them sick though it would be nice to get them out of my house.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

What I do is when it starts getting to be 60F during the day, after they are 4 weeks old, I let them spend as much time as possible outside in a duckling-safe pen. I set up a moveable pen because between now and 16 weeks old they are very susceptible to salmonella. If you move the pen every couple days (depending on how big a pen it is and how many ducklings), you'll avoid that risk. I continue to bring them in at night until outside temps are 60F consistently, or they are fully feathered out, whichever comes first. It does take a while for their adult plumes to come in though - they'll be close to eight or nine weeks old before they've even grown their intermediate feathers. Then they'll be about five or six or even seven months old before you see their mature plumage.

[silhouettestable]

What I do is when it starts getting to be 60F during the day, after they are 4 weeks old, I let them spend as much time as possible outside in a duckling-safe pen. I set up a moveable pen because between now and 16 weeks old they are very susceptible to salmonella. If you move the pen every couple days (depending on how big a pen it is and how many ducklings), you'll avoid that risk. I continue to bring them in at night until outside temps are 60F consistently, or they are fully feathered out, whichever comes first. It does take a while for their adult plumes to come in though - they'll be close to eight or nine weeks old before they've even grown their intermediate feathers. Then they'll be about five or six or even seven months old before you see their mature plumage.

 

Thanks for all that info. I think I may have been a bit unclear in my first post about what I meant by "out" I wasn't thinking of leaving them outside, just wondering when would be safe to move them from my basement with the heat lamp, to inside the chicken coop where there is no electricity. At the coop I have 2 options where I can put them when I move them. There is an area where I raise meat chickens and turkeys that is currently unoccupied, or I have another smaller area with one peacock and he has a little doorway to an outdoor pen that has a pool set up in it from when I had a couple of geese. The peacock goes in and out during the daytime but gets shut in for the night. The meat bird pen would be strictly indoors. I also have laying hens that are currently free-ranging but I wouldn't put the ducklings in with them where they could end up lost or hurt.

 

I don't plan to leave the ducks outside 24/7 even when they're older, we get too many predators around here. Last fall I had coyotes coming after my free-ranging chickens even in the day time, and just a few days ago I lost 3 hens to a coon because I didn't get out to shut them in when it got dark. Was in bed all day with a migraine headache and late that night when I was letting the dogs outside I heard a ruckus coming from the coop and went to investigate. Was missing 7 hens but 4 came back the next day unharmed.