Can someone help me pick a coop/kennel house for my ducks please

GracieJ

Songster
Feb 16, 2018
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196
Wales, UK
Hello there,
I need help on picking a house for my call ducks out of the following pictures - I have one of those minds that will search for houses for ages and then still not be able to pick one.

Okay I have two ducks, hoping to have ducklings mid-March, hopefully 4-6. This house will be somewhere to sleep at night and when there is bad weather. We don't get snow but we do get rain and sometimes cold temps. I am not a DIYer not do I know anyone who can help me build my own but I can do small things at a push lol. Plus the £s are limited as a student (but I will not compromise on good quality housing etc for my animals).

So which ones in your experience would be better? The only problem I have with a chicken coop is it's size and the fact that most of the ones I've looked at (online) have perches or something inside for chickens to sit on, but I fear my ducks will get stuck or something if they have those in their house.

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this one is one of my favourites - it has two vents at the back for air and the window can open, but my concern is the size inside, it is 4x4 and I would have to purchase a separate run.

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This one is another option, however it has the perches like I mentioned above and a 'galvanised tray' to help clean out the coop.
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This one looks good but I feel may be too small but do my ducks really need a lot of space?
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This one is my favourite - it's a dog kennel. However it's the most costly one at 10ftx4ft, 4ft high at £360 plus £55 erection fee and a fee for delivery (unknown).

Any opinions?
 

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Have you looked at second hand sites and adverts? You can find sheds and Wendy houses cheap on Preloved, Gumtree, your local paper... it wouldn’t take much to add some ventilation and a window if it doesn’t have one. You can get 10x12 sheds for less than £100 second hand. I think ducks are the same with chickens in the space department, say you get 6 ducklings alongside your 2 ducks, you’d need 32sqft of minimum coop space and 80sqft of minimum run space. I’ve never seen the point in spending hundreds on poultry coops when you can get outbuildings for a fraction of the price (all my opinion of course).
 
Depends on how long you plan to keep them or continue raising other birds to replace them as needed.

It sounds like you will let them out in the run instead of free-roaming. So option 1 is out then. Otherwise for free-roaming ducks, they just need a place to go for the night and that option would have worked fine.

I would certainly say that one which is heavy and permanent in its location, is also a good option.

I would also consider the vertical height for the people who have to go in and out to take care of them.
 
Depends on how long you plan to keep them or continue raising other birds to replace them as needed.

It sounds like you will let them out in the run instead of free-roaming. So option 1 is out then. Otherwise for free-roaming ducks, they just need a place to go for the night and that option would have worked fine.

I would certainly say that one which is heavy and permanent in its location, is also a good option.

I would also consider the vertical height for the people who have to go in and out to take care of them.

I plan on keeping them for as long as they live. They will be free-roaming, this would be a place to sleep and a place to go during bad weather. I would attach a run to option 1. Thank you for your advice :)
 
Have you looked at second hand sites and adverts? You can find sheds and Wendy houses cheap on Preloved, Gumtree, your local paper... it wouldn’t take much to add some ventilation and a window if it doesn’t have one. You can get 10x12 sheds for less than £100 second hand. I think ducks are the same with chickens in the space department, say you get 6 ducklings alongside your 2 ducks, you’d need 32sqft of minimum coop space and 80sqft of minimum run space. I’ve never seen the point in spending hundreds on poultry coops when you can get outbuildings for a fraction of the price (all my opinion of course).

No I totally agree with you! The coops I've found seem terribly small when, as you say, you can find sheds and outhouses much bigger. I will have to do more research then on the second-hand front which would be better money wise! Thank you for your help :)
 
If just for sleeping at night and bad weather I would say go with the least expensive one- the Chicken Coop and Hen House Poultry Ark looks like a good option! Although if it’s two stories than it may be wasted. It’s nice to give the ducks a place to stretch their wings when they get antsy at night. My two ducks are currently in a shed at night with a small “house” in the back where they lay eggs and a “run” to walk around when not sleeping.

They used to be just in a cinder block house big enough for them to really just sleep in, not an options for extended stays in bad weather. (I would seal the opening up with more cinder blocks at night.)
 

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Okay that is an inside shot of my biggest call house, she is "nesting" that is why she looks so annoyed with a picture lol.. it's very basic framing and put together honest!

Are you sure you cannot build something? you probably have more ability than you realize.

Anyways, i have two call flocks... one is in a raised rabbit hutch.. yes, i said rabbit! and they are surrounded by a dog run, so we lift them out so they have more room to roam so to speak...

The other group(flock lol) is bigger and has a house we built, and a large dog run so they go in/out on their own... it's basically like a big dog house but raised up to lessen predator risks and flooding and snow burying it.

Stay away from metal floors! hot in the summer and cold and frostbite risk in cold since ducks don't roost they won't work properly for them...

good venting, these "pre builds" often lack but you can always pop in more venting.

Let me check my pics to see if i have a shot of my housing... also if you google they have many plans online of housing for calls and how to build it.

congrats on the calls! i started with 2 of the teeny tiniest things you ever saw... then expanded and then bred lol.... I have 14 now, divided down into two flocks.

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Ha found a pic! this is my main house.. like i said basic, on the right side the wall is actually a door... and i have venting all along the top with hardware cloth to block it. Unsure if i have a shot of the raised house, let me check the files.
 
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They used to be just in a cinder block house big enough for them to really just sleep in, not an options for extended stays in bad weather. (I would seal the opening up with more cinder blocks at night.)

Great idea that I'll definitely consider using in the future. My ducks were OK when smaller, and I could put them in a cage (rabbit cage). But as they got older, they were even withstanding my push to get them into the cage (for their own protection at night). I only ever got them to walk in by themselves once or twice, before they realized they could resist and not just walk in willingly.

I do agree that building something is actually probably strong and cheaper than the basic models of coops or aviaries that are being sold (eg you would probably use 2x4s whereas those other ones don't).

But the other thing is that people do want a good-looking coop/aviary, and chances are the first one you build won't be so good-looking, even if it is fully functional.
 
Great idea that I'll definitely consider using in the future. My ducks were OK when smaller, and I could put them in a cage (rabbit cage). But as they got older, they were even withstanding my push to get them into the cage (for their own protection at night). I only ever got them to walk in by themselves once or twice, before they realized they could resist and not just walk in willingly.

I do agree that building something is actually probably strong and cheaper than the basic models of coops or aviaries that are being sold (eg you would probably use 2x4s whereas those other ones don't).

But the other thing is that people do want a good-looking coop/aviary, and chances are the first one you build won't be so good-looking, even if it is fully functional.

Oh yeah, my ducks live in a super makeshift house. I would love for it to look nice but that’s for later! If my “coop” was visible to the public I would never use cinder blocks :lau

But my ducks love cinder block houses now! They walk in to it willingly without any fuss after about a week of consistent herding.

 

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