found no differences due to water source when they studied ducks raised with open troughs, bell waterers, or nipple water lines. The ducks in this study were only housed with nipple lines. Because there were differences in eye and nostril scores between litter and plastic slatted flooring only at d 7, it is probable that there are multiple management factors that interact to affect these outcomes. It is of interest that the few differences between flooring systems occurred at d 7. It is possible that there were environmental conditions (e.g., ventilation) that differed between the 2 systems during this time but because the exact same 100 birds were not evaluated at each age within a given barn, any discussion of the cause is purely speculation. It is also feasible that at 7 d, ducklings are more susceptible developmentally to minor fluctuations in the environment. These differences were either not observed or are opposite to what was observed during the recently published winter study