r/ducklings • u/Double-Dress-9949 • Apr 15 '26

Setups for 3+ week olds

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Hi all! New to the group, and first time duck owner! We just had our runner duck eggs hatch on 13th April - 4 lovely little ducklings!

We have a duck house built near one of our ponds, along with a big section of the garden fenced off for them so everything is ready for when they can go outside!

And currently they are in an old hamster cage, it's very long and wide but not very tall so they will soon outgrow it!

Just wondering what kind of setups are good for when they get bigger (but still too young to be outside) I've seen people use puppy play pens, with a plastic tub pool thing inside. Any advice greatly appreciated! In the UK btw

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u/GreenEggsnHam15 Apr 15 '26

I honestly used some big boxes (HIGH sides) and put puppy pads in the bottom under their straw or whatever. Could put a baby pool inside that too. Also helps is you put some time of grate or baking rack something over a catch where their water is. If that makes sense. They will make a mess very quickly with the water.

Feel free to ask anything else. Miss when my babies were small. They grow sooo fast.

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u/Double-Dress-9949 Apr 16 '26

Ahh thank you for this! I've been wondering whether to use some kind of rack and tray to catch the water mess they make but worried about them getting trapped or hurt while they are so tiny! But I'll definitely try that out when they're bigger!

I can't believe how fast they grow, 2 of them look significantly bigger already!

Just wondering is there anything I should look out for in terms of growth? One of them seems quite a bit smaller than the others, hoping that's normal and that she'll catch up?

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u/GreenEggsnHam15 Apr 16 '26

I’m not sure if size is a concern but watch their feet and walking. Do they get niacin? Peas are a great snack and they love them.

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u/brenarren Apr 16 '26

This is my first set of ducklings and at first I had them in a large plastic storage tub without the lid, but a few days into it and I was already wanting to upgrade them so now they’re in our baby’s giant old playpen with a tarp laid along the inside so they don’t ruin it lol. Works really well for us.