Keeping ducks in a pen only?

billw said:

You could do something like our "Fort Dux":

(Please excuse the mess - the projects never end.)


It is enclosed in welded wire fencing on the top, sides, and 3 feet in along the bottom.



In addition, the sides have three feet of hardware cloth along the bottom to frustrate the raccoons and their grubby little paws.


Although we occasionally let them out to forage and probably will do more of that in the future once the whole garden area is fenced, they spend almost every day in the fort. It is 28x16, which I figure will house a maximum of 36 ducks. The goal is to keep the laying/breeding population at 12-16, only rising above that when we are raising more ducks for meat.

They seem perfectly happy with the accommodations. They spend most of their time outside, going into the shelter only on warm, sunny days.

Click to expand...

This is an awesome setup,and needs to go here. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ing-summer-2012-20-byc-store-gift-certificate

Wow that's a really cool setup. I wanna do something like that.

billw said:

You could do something like our "Fort Dux":

(Please excuse the mess - the projects never end.)


It is enclosed in welded wire fencing on the top, sides, and 3 feet in along the bottom.



In addition, the sides have three feet of hardware cloth along the bottom to frustrate the raccoons and their grubby little paws.


Although we occasionally let them out to forage and probably will do more of that in the future once the whole garden area is fenced, they spend almost every day in the fort. It is 28x16, which I figure will house a maximum of 36 ducks. The goal is to keep the laying/breeding population at 12-16, only rising above that when we are raising more ducks for meat.

They seem perfectly happy with the accommodations. They spend most of their time outside, going into the shelter only on warm, sunny days.

Click to expand...

What a fantastic set-up!

billw said:

You could do something like our "Fort Dux":

(Please excuse the mess - the projects never end.)


It is enclosed in welded wire fencing on the top, sides, and 3 feet in along the bottom.



In addition, the sides have three feet of hardware cloth along the bottom to frustrate the raccoons and their grubby little paws.


Although we occasionally let them out to forage and probably will do more of that in the future once the whole garden area is fenced, they spend almost every day in the fort.  It is 28x16, which I figure will house a maximum of 36 ducks.  The goal is to keep the laying/breeding population at 12-16, only rising above that when we are raising more ducks for meat.

 
They seem perfectly happy with the accommodations.  They spend most of their time outside, going into the shelter only on warm, sunny days.

Click to expand...

I have almost the exact same set up only smaller. Well I should say I will have the exact same set up. We already have the pen, and the shelter attached. I haven't put the roof on the shelter yet or the back wall attached. Where is the door? Just wondering because we don't have a door yet, we have been attaching the hardware cloth to nails for now. I would of been finished by now but I was in a wreck actually going to the lumber store getting more supplies to finish the project.

Missy60 said:

Where is the door? Just wondering because we don't have a door yet, we have been attaching the hardware cloth to nails for now.

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In the top picture, you can see the door on the right hand side. It is framed by non-pressure treated wood. It is just made of 2x4s with a cheap gate hinge/corner bracket kit from Home Depot. It has a throw bolt on the outside and a hook latch on the inside.

We have a run area for them to hang out in during the day, about 600 sq. ft. It's enclosed with a steel, chain linked fence and has hardware cloth up to about 3 feet along the bottom. We also have the top of the fence electrified and a mix of chicken wire and fishing line over the top. We've never had any problem and we live in the mountains in predator country. Bears, cougars, bobcats, fox, coyotes, weasels, eagles, hawks, snakes....you name it, we have it.

At night, however, they go into their safe area. This consists of about 250sq.ft that is completely hardware clothed over the chain link fence, all across the top and sides and buried under the ground....ie. it's completely encased in 1/4" hardware cloth. There is a separate door into this area of the run that is locked at night. They have a duck house, a dog house, which are about 6" off the ground and a hen house with a cement floor covered in shavings (we also have chickens) in the protected area. We lock them into their houses in the winter for warmth, but the rest of the year, they go in their respective houses to sleep when it's dark and we leave the doors open. They have food and water in this area as well and it is also covered over top with plastic to keep the area dry, mostly for the chickens. We get a lot of rain.

In 2 years, we have had no incidences with predators except for a bobcat that came sniffing around initially. She gave up after about 3 scouting expeditions. The bears, fortunately, prefer our garbage when we forget to put it in the garage, but I've seen them walk right by the coop at night with out even a sidewards glance. Coons have gotten into the run area at night a couple of times, but everyone was safe in the lockdown. And the hawks will sit in the surrounding trees and scream in frustration.