Is it cruel to keep a house duck indoors all the time?

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Happy ducks!
 
Not sure if they will go up top or use nesting boxes as ducks prefer the ground I have heard, but maybe use it in winter. It was out first day using it. We found it on eBAY and it is made by Top Paw. We had to put it together ourselves and it isn't the best construction, but it looks great and was $550+$15 shipped
 
You may be surprised. I used to keep my starter coop in a 12'x24' stall in my barn. The stall was shared by my ducks and my hens. The hens would roost along the top of the stall but would use the coop to lay their eggs. My two Khaki Campbell girls started laying their eggs in with the hens...having to use a fairly steep ramp to do so. If they ever end up exploring the "upstairs" of their new home they may decide that the more secluded place is more ideal and if you want to encourage them to use the nesting box up there, you could try just leaving some decoy eggs in it.

I'm so glad you decided to keep Missy and that she seems happy with her new friend!!
 
Not sure if they will go up top or use nesting boxes as ducks prefer the ground I have heard, but maybe use it in winter. It was out first day using it. We found it on eBAY and it is made by Top Paw. We had to put it together ourselves and it isn't the best construction, but it looks great and was $550+$15 shipped

It looks nice. I will recommend predator proofing your coop though if you feel it isn't very sturdy. I don't know what kind of predators you deal with where you live, but we have coyotes, foxes, possums, and raccoons that live near us. The coyotes are what we worry about the most, especially in the winter when their food is scarce. Last winter, something tried to dig under our coop, (we think it was a coyote) so we put up an electric fence around the entire coop to protect our babies. It seems that Missy and Maggie are very dear to you and I would hate for something to get in to them. Just my suggestion though; you do what you feel is best.
 
Thanks for the tip! My friend is wanting to reinforce the base and add wheels to make it like a tractor. That should help. The area is in the area of Blue Ridge where the mountains begin. We have seen wild turkey, raccoons, rabbits, and a bear once. Not sure about coyotes? I think where we are the hawks are their greatest predator and we cannot leave them unattended when grazing outside the coup for a second.
 
Thanks for the tip! My friend is wanting to reinforce the base and add wheels to make it like a tractor. That should help. The area is in the area of Blue Ridge where the mountains begin. We have seen wild turkey, raccoons, rabbits, and a bear once. Not sure about coyotes? I think where we are the hawks are their greatest predator and we cannot leave them unattended when grazing outside the coup for a second.

Making it a tractor is a great idea. One of the problems we've had in our stationary coop is that once the grass was gone (and that happened very quickly), the floor is only dirt and they poop on it a lot. And when it rains.....we have a stinky, mucky mess that attracts tons of flies.
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We've tried a lot of different things to try to clean ours up, but with a flock of 16 ducks and four chickens, this gets very tricky.

In addition to you not having to worry about a muddy, grassless coop area, the tractor idea you have will especially be helpful to you with your little pool you have for them. I know you only have two ducks, but you'll be surprised at how messy pools can get. We used to have two kiddie pools in our coop and we had to remove them because we just couldn't keep them clean and it made the floors even more muddy. If you haven't already done it, you might consider putting a drain on your pool for easier cleaning.

I just want to pass along the knowledge.
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Good luck with getting Missy and Maggie settled in their new space.
 
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