How about ducks

[schroader]

Can you put ducks in a built run. Will they lay like chickens? Are they hard to take care of? How much room do they need? Can you post some pics of your duck run?

thanks alot.
schroader

 

[chickenranchwife]

Quote:
Hey schroader, I just put my ducks in with my chickens and they are fine. In the summer time I make sure to fill a pond that hubby dug out with water. They lay seasonaly, but not sure why mine are laying eggs right now. Usually they quit in the fall, and start back up in the spring. Not sure how much room they really need. I don't have a run as my chickens and ducks free range. Good luck, they are fun!

 

[deeszoo]

Ducks will do just fine in a run. The only thing is, that their poo stinks when they are closed into a small run, and they will make a muddy mess! Other than that, they are fine. If you have Runner ducks, Khaki Campbells or one of the other egg-type ducks, they will lay a LOT of eggs for you. They just don't necessarily care WHERE they lay. Most of them you will find just laying out in the open - not in a nest.


Ducks are fun!

DeAnna

 

[KingsCalls]

Ducks are fine in a run just like chickens. They are messier than chickens and you should try to cover the run so that rain does not turn it into a sloppy mess! Ducks and rain = a mud hole!!!! Call ducks are smaller and require less space than some larger ducks. They are not the best egg laying ducks tho. For number of eggs, I'd go with Khaki Cambells. Ducks are great fun to watch if you put a small kiddie pool in with them, they will have a blast. Just keep it as clean as possible.

 

[nightshade]

My ducks are also in with my chickens. They are all in a closed in run, no free ranging. It consists of a 6 ft high 12x18 dog run and then about 40x40x3 ft high fenced in hillside. In the dog kennel section I turned a old claw foot tub into a pond for the ducks, but the chickens seem to like it too. you have too make the steps in and out of a tub or pond that deep though so no one gets stuck. You also want to make sure its something you can hose out to clean it once a day or it is going to smell.Also if your chickens like drinking out of it like mine do you don't want the water to get stagnent or it will breed bacteria and can make them sick.

Currently the kennel section of my run is only roofed with chicken wire. This I am Deffently changing in the spring to a hard roof. Maybe of clear plastic so the light still gets in but it keeps the rain and snow out. I would deffently suggest a hard roof on a run with ducks in. Because like it was already said rain+ducks = alot of mud everywhere. And that's not good for the chickens.

Khakis are deffently the best laying ducks and can produce upwards of 300+ eggs a year in the right setting. But that is usually industraly, in a normal backyard setting you will get closer to 200 or so. They are a smaller duck egg, around teh size of a extra large chicken egg, not the jumbo eggs you get from something like a Pekin but nice eggs all the same and they lay more in a season.

Ducks are alot of fun to watch and can be a great pleasure to have. But be prepared they are messy. No way around that really. You just have to clean the coop and run alot more then you would with just chickens. I use sawdust in my run from a local mill. I get it free so that is always a plus. I put in down in the summer about 4 inches thick about every two weeks. In spring you are looking at closer to once a week like you would a horse stall. Or if you have a raining period. When the snow first thaws I put a nice thick layer down to help with the mud taht comes with spring thaw every year and then go to my every two week routine. And it's not set in stone you got a messy spot you add alittle to clean it up.

It decomps nice in the compost pile, and the wood smell helps with the smelly duck poo cause they do smell more then chickens.

I have also heard that you can use sand around a duck pond to get rid of the mud and poor dranage. But you can't compost sand.

Hope this info helps you out and good luck with your duckies !