Newbie!!! Couple of house/run questions

[bondfamily007]

Howdy from Texas, everybody! First off, everything on here has been extremely helpful, thank you so much for everything I've learned already!

We just moved to a house out in the county on a half acre that backs up to one of the big lakes here in DFW metroplex. It is all I could hope for, and will be a great place for our son to grow up. We've decided to add ducks to our repertoire, and I'm in the planning stages. I was lucky enough to find a FREE run/coop on the beloved craigslist, although it was upside-down, haha.

Anyway, basically what I have is four 8'x12' panels, and roofing tin. The panels have one row of tin across the bottom, and then the rest is hardware cloth. I'm trying to decide if I should put them back how I found them, in a square (12'x12'), or if I would be better off cutting two of them in half, and making the run 6'x18'? I would have a bit more square footage with the 12x12 arrangement (math is weird like that, 144 vs 108), but I have this vision of me running circles in that thing trying to get ahold of a duck. Where the more linear setup i could sort of push them to one end or the other. I have room for either setup, and I am planning on the duck house being attached to the exterior of this run.

Step two, I was laying out the different arrangements, I realized that I would be putting the duck house pretty close to the window to the bedroom. Am I going to hate my life with a dozen welsh harlequins 15 foot from my bedroom window? I've got a few more questions, but I'll save those for a different thread.

Bill

 

[Outpost JWB]

Hi Bill!

I don't have ducks, so I'm not going to give much input there, but I'd like to advise you to please check with your county extension office, or zoning department in regards to placement of a coop. In the township I live, a coop must be 1000+ feet from any dwelling place.

So glad you are thinking ahead. Some of us just jump in head 1st. Have a great day & feel free to ask any questions. There are a lot of great knowledgable folks on byc willing to help.

 

[bondfamily007]

Hi Bill!

I don't have ducks, so I'm not going to give much input there, but I'd like to advise you to please check with your county extension office, or zoning department in regards to placement of a coop. In the township I live, a coop must be 1000+ feet from any dwelling place.

So glad you are thinking ahead. Some of us just jump in head 1st. Have a great day & feel free to ask any questions. There are a lot of great knowledgable folks on byc willing to help.

Good call, I don't think that will be a problem here in TX, as we're outside of city limits, and only would have the county to deal with. I have seen things like that from cities before, I haven't found any references to that in the county stuff, and I have done a fair amount of research so far. Two tenths of a mile seems a little ridiculous!

 

[Outpost JWB]

We have 3 acres and are very much in the country thankfully. But zoning can still come to the country and enforce laws. Some will do anything to make an extra buck. Glad you have checked it out

 

[cymbaline]

Howdy from Texas, everybody! First off, everything on here has been extremely helpful, thank you so much for everything I've learned already!

We just moved to a house out in the county on a half acre that backs up to one of the big lakes here in DFW metroplex. It is all I could hope for, and will be a great place for our son to grow up. We've decided to add ducks to our repertoire, and I'm in the planning stages. I was lucky enough to find a FREE run/coop on the beloved craigslist, although it was upside-down, haha.

Anyway, basically what I have is four 8'x12' panels, and roofing tin. The panels have one row of tin across the bottom, and then the rest is hardware cloth. I'm trying to decide if I should put them back how I found them, in a square (12'x12'), or if I would be better off cutting two of them in half, and making the run 6'x18'? I would have a bit more square footage with the 12x12 arrangement (math is weird like that, 144 vs 108), but I have this vision of me running circles in that thing trying to get ahold of a duck. Where the more linear setup i could sort of push them to one end or the other. I have room for either setup, and I am planning on the duck house being attached to the exterior of this run.

Step two, I was laying out the different arrangements, I realized that I would be putting the duck house pretty close to the window to the bedroom. Am I going to hate my life with a dozen welsh harlequins 15 foot from my bedroom window? I've got a few more questions, but I'll save those for a different thread.

Bill

It's been my experience that you'll be running in circles chasing ducks no matter what, lol. It's also been my experience, however, that the Welshies are far tamer and easier to get a hold of than, say, Mallards or Buffs.

My 8 (5 girls, 3 boys) are right next to my back door (like 4 ft, and about 12 ft away from my bedroom) and I don't find them annoying at all. Of course if you're talking all 12 being girls, and Welshies at that, that's probably significantly louder than my group. Boys are quieter - I don't even think I can hear them at all when I'm inside. Now as for smell...I'd say that depends on how often you open your bedroom window and how much the duck poo smell bothers you. Or barnyard smell, if you put down straw, as I recently did. I love having mine so close though; it's so much easier to feed and water them and it's great being able to watch them every time I walk by, which is often.

 

[lomine]

I'd say make the run as big as possible. You can always heard the ducks into a smaller area if you need to.

You may have a problem getting the ducks off the pond at the end of the day so be prepared to deal with that.

WH are supposed to be a quiet breed but mine can be really loud when they want to be, and I only have 3. Also, if there is a strong smell of poo it means the coop/run is not clean enough. If you can smell it there is too much ammonia and that is very bad for the ducks. In other words, if you keep it properly clean you shouldn't smell much.

 

[bondfamily007]

It's either waaaaay too hot, or too cold here in Texas. I bet I only open the windows once or twice a year, and there's another window on the other side of the room that would be away from the pen if needed. I honestly hadn't even thought of that side of things! My main concern was noise, especially really early on the weekend. I'm usually going hunting or fishing early in the predawn on the weekends, but my wife loves to sleep in. We have nice upgraded double panes, and brick construction,but still not sound proof.


Finally got it unloaded, I know that a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's what the panels look like!!! This is the window in question, and the closest part of pen will be about 20 feet away.

 

[bondfamily007]

Here's a shot of the lower yard they'll get to run around on, and the lake. I don't see anyway to take advantage of the lake, Although it would be nice. Plenty of wild ducks out there, I've seen mallards, gadwall, blue and green wing teal, pintails, wood ducks, spoonies, redheads, ringnecks, and several others. The current group that's been right out back this week is a big flock of canvasbacks, one of my favorites! Of course didn't see any during season.

Anyone have experience with letting their ducks use a large body of water?

 

[Outpost JWB]

not sure about ducks, or Texas. Or 20 feet away. Here in Ohio, the snow has just melted so it's a soupy mess at the coop lot. It smells like a hog pen. After work, I am Putting down wood chips and straw today to try to sop up some of the mud. Have a good day!

 

[needlessjunk]

Here's a shot of the lower yard they'll get to run around on, and the lake. I don't see anyway to take advantage of the lake, Although it would be nice. Plenty of wild ducks out there, I've seen mallards, gadwall, blue and green wing teal, pintails, wood ducks, spoonies, redheads, ringnecks, and several others. The current group that's been right out back this week is a big flock of canvasbacks, one of my favorites! Of course didn't see any during season.

Anyone have experience with letting their ducks use a large body of water?

Honestly I don't think it's a good idea letting them on that large of a body of water and expect them to return. It's also much too large for you to try herding them back onto land. I think the lake will make a nice backdrop but that's about it.

I'm in TX, Austin area. I have a 3 sided coop and only ever close up the front if it is going to be in the low 20's or teens. Otherwise it's always open on one side. Same for my chickens. Ducks and chickens can handle cold especially ducks! Mine will never go in their house no matter what. They can but when it's in the 20's and windy they would rather be parked out on my patio or under our firewood.

I think the cool that close to the house isn't going to be great. You could make it work but ducks are mess, it's going to packed dirt before too long and females are loud. Also what about the smell? If you keep it clean it isn't bad but there is still a smell. I can hear my girls in the morning from my second story bedroom if Dh doesn't let them out when he gets up. They are about 125ft from the back of my house of the fence line. They don't wake me up but I can hear them.