Duck care in gage How To Raise a Duck

Duck care in gage How To Raise a Duck

Preplanning is essential in raising happy, healthy pet ducks. If you want to be able to handle your ducks, you will need to acquire them young and spend lots of hours handling them when they are young. Before purchasing, ensure you are up to the task of raising and maintaining ducks; contrary to popular belief, it's not the same thing as keeping chickens or other birds; if you want to keep chickens, for example, I strongly recommend Chicken Keeping Secrets; you'll be able to learn how to raise them anywhere from a city backyard to a farm. 

To keep a duck as a pet, begin by asking yourself the following pet duck care questions:

• Do I have enough space to keep several ducklings happy? Ducks are social birds and should not be raised alone. You will need at least a minimum space of 10 feet per adult duck.
• Is my yard good for ducks? Ducks will need shelter and a place to swim.
• Can I keep my pet ducks safe? Ducks have several predators: owls, hawks, foxes, snapping turtles, dogs, etc. Providing your ducks with a large source of water can help protect them during the day. Locking them in a secure shelter at night might also be necessary.
• Do I have the time and resources to take care of the ducks? Ducklings take considerable care in the beginning. Make sure you're up for the challenge. Also, make sure you can easily obtain the right food for the ducklings. Make sure you have everything prepared before purchasing your ducklings.

1. Housing your pet ducks:
   • Keep ducklings inside for the first four to five weeks. If the weather is warm, they can move outside when they are two to three weeks old.
   • Ducklings raised without a mother will need an artificial heat source. A heat lamp positioned in one corner of the cage works best. Position it so the ducklings can escape the heat if things get too hot. If you find the ducklings huddled underneath the lamp, they are too cold. If they are crowded away from the source, they are too hot.
   • An old playpen is perfect for housing young ducklings. You might need to wrap the sides with screening to prevent them from escaping. You can use a plastic children's pool (not the inflatable kind). Line it with an absorbent material (such as sawdust) and suspend a heat lamp over one corner. You can use a cat-litter scoop to clean up duck droppings daily. The pool can then be used for the ducklings later on.
   • Make sure the flooring isn't slippery when wet and allows the ducklings good footing to move.
   • Ducks should always have some type of shelter that will protect them from sun, rain, snow, a hail. An inexpensive lean-to can be constructed by propping a piece of plywood up on two logs.
   • Adult ducks can survive in temperatures below zero as long as they have liquid water.
   
   Read More