Let's Raise These Quackers Right Part 2

I kept the ducklings in their custom made brooder box with chick starter/grower food, lots and lots of water, heat from a red heat lamp, and dry pine shaving and marsh hay bedding until our outdoor coop was ready.  The wild duck was able to feed on additional goods: duck weed, fresh greens, and many other natural items as it's needs were different from the domestic ducklings.

As the ducklings grew, their coop took shape within our gardens.  We found a lot of the coop lumber material for free from friends' junk piles. We purchased a little bit of the materials new.  A good steel roof was custom ordered, and wire weave was purchased to keep predators out.  Repurposed windows and repurposed wood were very helpful at keeping the coop cost very low.  I purchased exterior paint to doll it up a bit.  Within a few weeks the coop was built, the preliminary non-predator proof duckling fence put up, and the ducklings were able to be outside with a heat lamp at night (wired into coop).  The first seven to eight weeks,  ducklings are very messy and needy.  Ducklings, in general, are very helpless and need lots of care.  BUT, they are so worth all the work.

Preliminary duck coop set up.  The coop and the fence around it changed as the ducklings grew into ducks.  

Ducklings in their coop. 

It's very important to bond with the domestic ducklings so they are not scared of people.