Ok so Im starting to plan for this coming spring summer and what I would like to do with our ducks. I came up with the above potential design for a rotational duck pasture.
The pasture would be surrounded by a large perimeter fence (4-5 feet high) and only have one gate leading to a 3 foot walkway behind the pastures (the brown line is the perimeter fence). I am planning on running at least two electrified strips one at the bottom and one at the top of the perimeter fence, and Im toying with ideas of how to keep out larger raptors and was thinking of using wire or string (heavy string) strung between fence posts above 6 feet so we can walk under sort of making a large mesh to keep out larger birds.
The whole structure would be 150 feet long and 28 feet wide (to accommodate the walkway). A total of 7 separate cells would be present inside the perimeter fence. Five of them would be 25x25 feet giving a total of 625 square feet total. Each of these pens would then be divided up into four sections (approximately 156 square feet each). In the center of these would be a fenced pond area with four gates to allow me to rotate birds between the smaller pastures.
Now this is where some similarities end. Four of the cells would be for the Cayuga Hens (one per section) and there babies (roughly 10 each is the number Im calculation for). Each of these would have a small 8x8 foot screened shelter where Im hoping to encourage them to nest and I could lock the hen and her brood up in during the night for the first few weeks. Once the babies get older I just plan on rotating them though the four cells to rotate the pasture. For the fifth 25x25 cell I would keep the drakes (Khaki Campbell and Cayuga) when there not breeding and during moult and pasture them the same way rotating them. The last two cells are a little smaller but that is because I plan on using them for the Khaki Campbell Hens and Cayuga Hens once they are done with there brood (so they can moult)
Basically if you were to go from left to right on the above picture the first four cells would be for raising Cayuga Broods (11 ducks per 25x25 foot enclosure), the next would hold a maximum of 6 Cayuga Hens during there moult, the next pen would hold six Khaki Campbell hens so they can pasture, and the final pen would hold 8-10 drakes (likely 4 Cayuga and 3 Khaki Campbells) so they could pasture once breeding has been done.
In short this would allow me to segregate birds to be sure of parentage, pasture the birds and utilize green foods (something the Cayugas seem good at) and keep all the birds well protected. I am interested to know if anyone feels this would be to small of an area to house the number of birds Im planning or not.
Thanks
Chris
