If you are new to the duck game, this post offers tips on making the perfect first home for them. It also provides tips on how to make it easier to care for and clean up after your new baby ducks. For raising ducklings, check out my post, which is linked at the bottom.
Duck Brooder Tips
- Bigger is better. Ducks grow really fast, so it’s important to get a bigger duck brooder to begin with so you don’t have to transfer the ducks from one brooder to the next.
- Ducks and ducklings get water EVERYWHERE—in their food and bedding. They step into the water, which gets dragged out around them. Pine pellets for their bedding will soak up moisture better than pine shavings.
For our brooder, we decided on a stock tank that will withstand the weather when it isn’t used for a brooder. We flip it upside down and store it outside when not used. If you want a pond, a stock tank can easily be made into a pond once the ducks are done using it for their first home.
Set Up & Supplies for a Duck Brooder
We got the 110-gallon Tuff Stuff Tank. Stock tanks are available at your local farm and/or hardware store.
Now for the ”no mess” water and feed situation. I call this “no mess” in quotes because it still gets messy, but all the mess is in the pans under the cooling sheets. Here are some cooling sheets that won’t rust and some pans that will hold up. The bedding will still get messy and wet, but doing the cooling sheets and pan set-up will help elongate your bedding. We use this waterer for our ducklings. It’s amazing and a game-changer. The ducklings can use it longer as the deeper water tray is specifically designed for ducks! Any feeder will do, but I will link to our favorite.
We use the Cozy Heater for the heater. In our opinion, it’s the best because there is no risk of fire. It also provides more natural heat for the babies, mimicking the ducklings hiding in their mama‘s wings.
Thinking about getting ducks?! My Pet Chicken is my number one spot to purchase my birds. They offer small order sizes, which means I get exactly what I want, and I don’t have to guess at the store and hope I picked all females. My Pet Chicken
Check out my blog post, “Raising Baby Ducks for Beginners,” to prepare for your new arrivals! This is a great post to read as it will inform you of all the necessary things your ducks will need, including an important vitamin: niacin. Ducklings need niacin to grow strong bones.
