We have 4 runners and we love them. However, they are high maintenance, especially compared to our chickens. I have the ducks and chickens together in a run and coop. Ducks just have such watery poop and they poop all the time. I do not have a kiddie pool in our run. I just use several large water containers/tubs, which requires a lot of buckets of water. Ducks, in general, get a lot of water everywhere so keeping up on mud/moisture/mess is constant. I use wood shavings from the coop and hay in the run to minimize mud. Their food and water containers are on a "kitchen" platform that allows for spillage and drainage. It is just an old wooden door frame with chicken wire and lattice on top so that it supports the containers and the birds but all the drippings and spills go through to the ground. Underneath it, I spread a layer of pea gravel to help with drainage. My chickens free range for most of the day. However, I keep the ducks in the run. When I've let them out in the past, they just seem terrified of everything. They look upset and just want to go back into the run. They feel safe and happy there, which works for me. The ducks are pretty loud when they are upset or hungry or moody, louder than I had anticipated. Most of the time, I can't hear them up at our house. They aren't aggressive. In fact, they are actually timid and quite flighty and afraid. I agree with the other post about them not being "cuddle" ducks. When they were younger, they would sit more with us and lay in our laps or near us, but now that they've been outside for a few months, they act scared of us. They come over for treats though. I love their personalities and I'm so glad we got them. However, in the future, I plan on only keeping chickens. The whole water situation is just a lot to manage.
