Finally joined today after weeks reading a lot of posts about ducks.
We have two 5-week old ducklings (1 Jumbo Pekin and 1 Fawn and White Runner) and two 2-week old ducklings (1 Jumbo Pekin and 1 Black Swedish). We live in a small house (for now) with a small backyard of only 20' x 40' of space. We have neighbors on all sides and 6' high wood fence all around too.
We do live close to a tree line and I'm concerned about daytime hawks and nighttime owls, of which we have both around. I haven't noticed raccoons around but there are also dogs on all sides of us and we have 2 ourselves however they are not always outside and none out at night for the most part.
We were recently hit hard financially and can't afford a nice coop for a while and I'm wondering what I should do in the meantime.
Should they be allowed to roam the small yard during the day and just have a place to go at night?
How big/old do they have to be before hawks aren't an issue?
Right now the older 2 are in a rabbit hutch with a bottom enclosed box but they're almost too big to get down in the hole for it (well at least the Pekin is).
We have two 5-week old ducklings (1 Jumbo Pekin and 1 Fawn and White Runner) and two 2-week old ducklings (1 Jumbo Pekin and 1 Black Swedish). We live in a small house (for now) with a small backyard of only 20' x 40' of space. We have neighbors on all sides and 6' high wood fence all around too.
We do live close to a tree line and I'm concerned about daytime hawks and nighttime owls, of which we have both around. I haven't noticed raccoons around but there are also dogs on all sides of us and we have 2 ourselves however they are not always outside and none out at night for the most part.
We were recently hit hard financially and can't afford a nice coop for a while and I'm wondering what I should do in the meantime.
Should they be allowed to roam the small yard during the day and just have a place to go at night?
How big/old do they have to be before hawks aren't an issue?
Right now the older 2 are in a rabbit hutch with a bottom enclosed box but they're almost too big to get down in the hole for it (well at least the Pekin is).