Basic Duck care - new owner

[JMB7718]

Hello, new duck owner here.

I am looking for a little advice on some basic duck care.

What do you all do with your pools in the winter? heaters? Do the ducks need the water all year to swim in? How big of a house would 4 Pekin ducks need?

I have a chicken house with a flock of about 70, but I didn't really want the ducks in with the chickens if they are going to be messy and soak the floor. I plan to make them their own enclosure, but would like to know how big of a house they will need and if I need to heat their pond for the winter. we live in Upstate NY and it gets really cold here.
thanks for any advice and help. pics of your duck house would be appreciated as well!

 

[3bird]

Welcome to the wonderful world of ducks!

We keep a large breed called silver Appleyards, so my comments are based on our experience with them. We keep five hens and one drake at present, and we live on the coast of Maine, where we get snow and some cold temps.

During the winter, our ducks have access twice a day to two areas on our property that generally don't freeze (but sometimes they do!). They usually will make their way to one of the two (or sometimes both) in the morning and evening and swim/play in the water.

We do not provide any supplemental pools in the winter. They do have access to a heated 5-gallon water bucket in the run 24/7 most of the time (when the weather is really extreme, we may lock them into the duckhouse for the night with no food or water). We change that bucket at least 2x per day.

To answer your question more directly, they do not need water to swim, but they do need water deep enough to dunk their heads. They will appreciate water to swim almost no matter the temperature!

In terms of size, for a large breed duck, we feel like 4.5 square feet per duck is a good minimum. We have a 32 square foot duckhouse that is elevated, so they have another 32 square feet underneath, which is covered in the winter. They often choose to be out in the run a lot at night, but when it's cold, they all snuggle together in the duckhouse.

This past year, we decided to add supplemental heat to the duckhouse. We are using a Sweeter Heater, and we've been very pleased with it. It is an infrared, radiant heater that only heats the ducks directly underneath it, and the surface temperature does not exceed safe 160-180 F. It is NOT necessary, but as the girls age, a few of them seem to appreciate it. If you do choose to add any supplemental heat, be VERY careful and do your research. We can't say enough good things about the Sweeter Heater.

I know how many people talk about how messy their ducks are, but that has not been our experience. We use the deep litter method in the duckhouse and spot clean 2x/day. There is never any water in the duckhouse. In the run, which is covered, we have a combination of shavings and straw. The area around their water bucket is pavers, with gravel directly under it. We wrap three sides of our duckhouse in 6mil plastic in the winter. Here's a picture of our duckhouse:

And here is a link to our Duckhouse Build Article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ine-duck-inn.75852/?page=2#ams-comment-515364

Feel free to reach out with any questions. Have fun and good luck!!!

 

[JMB7718]

Welcome to the wonderful world of ducks!

We keep a large breed called silver Appleyards, so my comments are based on our experience with them. We keep five hens and one drake at present, and we live on the coast of Maine, where we get snow and some cold temps.

During the winter, our ducks have access twice a day to two areas on our property that generally don't freeze (but sometimes they do!). They usually will make their way to one of the two (or sometimes both) in the morning and evening and swim/play in the water.

We do not provide any supplemental pools in the winter. They do have access to a heated 5-gallon water bucket in the run 24/7 most of the time (when the weather is really extreme, we may lock them into the duckhouse for the night with no food or water). We change that bucket at least 2x per day.

To answer your question more directly, they do not need water to swim, but they do need water deep enough to dunk their heads. They will appreciate water to swim almost no matter the temperature!

In terms of size, for a large breed duck, we feel like 4.5 square feet per duck is a good minimum. We have a 32 square foot duckhouse that is elevated, so they have another 32 square feet underneath, which is covered in the winter. They often choose to be out in the run a lot at night, but when it's cold, they all snuggle together in the duckhouse.

This past year, we decided to add supplemental heat to the duckhouse. We are using a Sweeter Heater, and we've been very pleased with it. It is an infrared, radiant heater that only heats the ducks directly underneath it, and the surface temperature does not exceed safe 160-180 F. It is NOT necessary, but as the girls age, a few of them seem to appreciate it. If you do choose to add any supplemental heat, be VERY careful and do your research. We can't say enough good things about the Sweeter Heater.

View attachment 2323557

I know how many people talk about how messy their ducks are, but that has not been our experience. We use the deep litter method in the duckhouse and spot clean 2x/day. There is never any water in the duckhouse. In the run, which is covered, we have a combination of shavings and straw. The area around their water bucket is pavers, with gravel directly under it. We wrap three sides of our duckhouse in 6mil plastic in the winter. Here's a picture of our duckhouse:

View attachment 2323561

And here is a link to our Duckhouse Build Article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ine-duck-inn.75852/?page=2#ams-comment-515364

Feel free to reach out with any questions. Have fun and good luck!!!

THANK YOU so much this is so helpful!!!

and your duck house is beautiful!

 

[3bird]

THANK YOU so much this is so helpful!!!

and your duck house is beautiful!

Thanks! Feel free to reach out with any questions. We are not experts, but we're happy to share our experiences.

 

[JMB7718]

Do ducks use/need nesting boxes? I also wasn't sure if they could climb a ramp to an elevated house.... does it have to have a very gradual incline?

 

[3bird]

Do ducks use/need nesting boxes? I also wasn't sure if they could climb a ramp to an elevated house.... does it have to have a very gradual incline?

We do not provide nesting boxes. The girls make their own nests (some are deep and elaborate) in the corners of the duckhouse.

We have a relatively long ramp to enter our duckhouse, and the sucks have no problem negotiating it. You can kind of see the ramp in this picture:

Here's a video of the flock heading up for the "flock party" treat time. Not sure why Piglet didn't just head up the usual way...lol.

 

[Isaac 0]

Good info here as well,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ducks-sticky-topics-index.256233/