It took me a while to blog about what happened to the flock of ducks, mostly because I was embarrassed about it. They suffered from my mistakes and lack of experience. I mentioned to my husband that I didn't even want to have to share the news on my blog and he told me that I really needed to. One of the reasons I write this blog is to share my experiences so others can learn. Good or bad. I can't just gloss over the bad stuff, that wouldn't be helpful at all. Of course, as usual, he's right. In fact, one of the reasons I ran into trouble was that there is just not a lot of info out there on backyard ducks and what little there is paints a pretty rosy picture. I believed the hype about ducks being better, easier and friendlier than chickens. Wow, easier than chickens? Chickens have been pretty darn easy so far. And friendly too. Before the ducklings had even arrived I envisioned myself as the leader of the backyard ducks movement. I was going to take this ball and run with it.
And when the ducklings finally arrived, they were cuter that I even imagined. They made adorable peeping sounds and slurped their water in such a comical way. After a couple of days, however, I discovered that it wasn't all sunshine and daffodils. Ducks are messy, way messier than chickens. They wash their food down with water which means that their water is constantly being spoiled by food. When the chickens were babies, I dumped their spoiled water out a couple times a day. The duck's water needed to be freshened every 30 minutes it seemed. Also, it was easy to keep the chicken brooder clean by adding bedding every day or two and changing it once a week. Not so with ducks.
First of all, they splash water everywhere. If I had made a duck-specific brooder, I could have eliminated some of the problems caused by their splashing. I've seen pictures of brooders made from cardboard boxes where the food and water was kept outside the brooder so the ducklings have to access it through a 'window'. That seems like the way to go, unfortunately I wasn't able to use that type of brooder because we don't have a garage or enclosed shelter to house the brooder. I used a wire cage as a brooder to keep them safe from predators, so I had to put the food and water in the brooder with them. Very messy. I 'redecorated' the brooder many times, trying to find a less messy way to offer them water. I ended up setting their water in a plastic tray to keep the water from pooling in the bottom of the brooder and also putting their nest in another tray, slightly higher than the water tray in hopes of keeping their bed dry. These things helped but didn't completely solve the problem.
Even worse that water is poop. Ducks drink a TON of water, so their poop is very liquidy. And ducklings eat basically cereal, so they are pooping out liquid cereal all day, which, if left to sit, smells like spoiled beer. There is no way you can just throw some shavings on that and make it last a week. The duck brooder had to be cleaned out daily. Fortunately it was warm enough that I could transfer the flock to a tub with a few inches water and they could take a little swim while I washed their house out an a daily basis. Also fortunate (?) that I am unemployed and have the time to so such things.
While chickens require eight weeks in the brooder, ducks can get by with three or four, depending on the weather, which is a big plus because by three weeks, they are fouling their brooder at an alarming rate.
Our flock was moved to their pen at four weeks because of construction delays, and it was not a moment too soon. Sadly, what seemed like a benefit turned out to be instrumental in their demise. They were hardy enough to stand up to the weather, but had no defense against two little dogs. The chickens weren't allowed to free-range until they were nine weeks old, basically full grown. A nine week old chicken flock could probably defend against a dog attack, at least by my little dogs who notoriously back down from any challenge. Four week old ducks just try to escape, and even my candy-assed dogs will give chase.
So, what are the lessons we've learned?
- Ducks are NOT easier than chickens. They are more hardy but NOT easier.
- The right brooder makes all the difference.
- Ducklings shouldn't be allowed to free-range until they are big enough to defend themselves.
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