New to Indian Runner Ducks

The video is now on my blog if you want to watch it!

5 have now hatched, 4 white and 1 brown, there's just one left to come out, I hope it's a brown one!
 
Hi guys, the ducks are now about 10 days old, I've never seen anything grow as fast in my life, they are already about a foot tall!

They are currently in my garage with a heat lamp on and seem quite happy.

I've started sorting out their area at the bottom of my garden. They will sleep in a cordoned off section of my shed. Outside the plan is to membrane & wood chip the majority and give them a slightly raised gravely area which will have some sort of water bath/bowl/bucket set into the ground.

My question is, what is the best type and size of water bath to give them? For ease of cleaning is it better to get something I can drain off with a plug or pipe at the bottom?

There's probably going to be 6 runners using it.
 
Hi Red Face, I have just read your post, and was soo excited by it, as I, like you, am a novice at hatching ducklings, and am currently at the beginning of the journey, looking to buy an incubator, looking at eggs, etc, so to read that you have done it, and successfully so has made my day!! Congrats on hatching your babies, I am even more psyched to do this now!
 
Oh my god, it's the coolest thing you will ever do! Well, behind having twins, that was pretty amazing haha!

If you want to know the email of the seller I can send you a link ;)

Ps. Have you checked my blog? I'll be updating it with some new pics in the next few days.
 
That would be great, thanks. I like the look of your incubator too, much bigger than some of the smaller 6/7 egg ones that don't give them much space to move around in once hatched. Did you say you got that from ebay, too? The blog is amazing, we were having a proper coo over them hatching, and the one on your desk, haha! I can't wait now to do it myself now!
 
Yeah, the incubator was good, it was about £50 on ebay, don't rely on the temperature gauge though. I bought a cheap digital thermometer off eBay (this also gives the humidity reading) and a secondary analogue thermometer to get the temp just right.

I turned the eggs 3 times a day, I set my iPhone to quack at me every 8 hours! Morning, teatime and bedtime.

I can't wait to get them outside and see them cruising around!
 
It all sounds quite daunting, but very, very exciting! I shall get a similar thermometer in that case, thank you!
 
Just a quick one about your brooder box, what lamp are you using, bulbs etc? thanks in advance! It looks to be free standing in the pic, as opposed to one attached the the side of the box.
 
It's just a free standing metal office desk lamp from ikea. I've put a 100 watt bulb in it and it easily generates enough heat.

You can tell if the ducklings are hot or cold depending on how close they are sat to the bulb.
 
Thanks, I did think about a desk lamp, and then wondered if that wasn't the done thing but that's great, they are easy to move around and plug in, thank you!
 
Hi,
I'd worry about damage to their eyes-I wouldn't like being under the glare of a 100w bulb for 24hrs a day. Ideally they should be under a ceramic bulb to give them more natural light conditions.
 
Ok, I'll get it changed tomorrow.

I read on other forums a standard 60 to 100 watt bulb would be fine! Damn!

Any ideas on my bath/water question guys? What do you use?
 
Is there an "electric duck" equivalent of the electric hen, to keep ducklings warm more economically than by using a lightbulb? :-)11
 
I have always used and electric hen for my runner ducklings. Took no time for them to learn how to scrabble on top and squeak at me for attention though! :D
 
As I understand it (having not hatched my own, as I'm veggie & my husband's too soft to eat the male offspring), an electric hen is a heated plate that is suspended above the chicks, giving off heat but no light, so it's much more efficient than a bulb as a heat source. Other, far wiser, members will doubtless be along shortly to correct me...
 
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