Do ducks EVER go into a shelter?

[chicktwit]

My ducks are referred to as second shift. They are always last to go in bad weather or not. Had a really bad storm with nearly 60 mph winds & my silly self was trying to get my Bei's in the chicken house. They really didn't want to go because it was still light out.

 

[MamacatPatch]

Quote:
We have chickens and ducks but they are in separate runs which is really a large run divided with more chicken wire. Anyhow we want to get more ducks and some geese next spring. We tried having the ducks with the chickens but the ducks are so messy, the water got everywhere and we couldn't have the water inside the shed because the ducks made such a mess. Plus the ducks have a deep large rubber 'pond' that the chickens would surely drown in if they got into it somehow.

What kind of set up do you have to maintain both the chickens and ducks together? Perhaps you have pix of your set up? Would love to hear more about it!


Marci

 

[tonini3059]

I have my ducks and chickens together in the same coop and I never have a problem. They do the same thing my ducks are always the last ones into the coop. My husband made a special tub for the waterer to sit on to keep the ducks from getting water all over the bedding. There is a picture of it on my BYC page.

 

[MamacatPatch]

Wow, your estate and ducks and chickens are phenomenal!!!!!!! I am totally impressed!!! We definitely need more ducks! And geese!!! HA

So is that waterer set up for the chickens or the ducks? Or both? How would the ducks get up there to drink?

 

[tonini3059]

Thanks! The domestic ducks and chickens are housed the same so they share one and the wild ducks have their own coop. I pile the bedding up high on one side for my calls and the domestics can actually just reach it from the floor. Most of the calls are able to just hop up there but some have too short legs and can't make it. And the wild ducks just hop up on theirs also.
If we were to remake it we would use a larger cement mixing tub, cause there is still a little bit of splashing, but not a lot.

 

[spud1035]

Quote:
We have chickens and ducks but they are in separate runs which is really a large run divided with more chicken wire. Anyhow we want to get more ducks and some geese next spring. We tried having the ducks with the chickens but the ducks are so messy, the water got everywhere and we couldn't have the water inside the shed because the ducks made such a mess. Plus the ducks have a deep large rubber 'pond' that the chickens would surely drown in if they got into it somehow.

What kind of set up do you have to maintain both the chickens and ducks together? Perhaps you have pix of your set up? Would love to hear more about it!


Marci

Marci,

I keep duck and chicks(bantam cochins) together but I keep ducks (swimin) water outside the pen, very far from the pen in fact. But I'm able to free range em, no problems so far for me. I also have a heated dog dish for drinking but have put a peace of wood over it with nails in it so they can't get in it, but they can still drink from it. They are black east indies so they are not so big. They are in pen at night when I lock em up (All of em).

I want to try something different next year, transition to more free ranging, that means gettin rid of my regular chicks and going to all bantams or keeping my bantams and adding welsh harlequins. I really like my bantam cochins but they don't lay well in winter but like the fact that they don't destroy my garden and flower beds when out. I really like the smaller size of the welsh harlequins and like the hardiness of ducks too.

 

[Muscovy Man]

My ducks go to sleep into their shelter every night, similar to chickens. I still have to remind them though, that they must go to bed when it is almost dusk.

 

[Sweetfolly]

All of my ducks are waiting to go inside in the evening - they know that they're not going to get food unless they go inside!

My two mallard drakes haven't been outside since the first snow fell. The door of their pen is open all day long, but they refuse to go outside. They're pathetic.

My three oldest ducks, two Khaki Campbells and a Pekin, will gladly go outside every morning in the cold winter weather, but then they curl up in the snow and lay there all day.

The young ducks, hatched this past summer, would stay outside in a blizzard if I let them. They're thrilled when there's a thin layer of ice on their pond, and spend hours breaking it up and playing with it. They dive into the snow and "splash" around in it. During the big snowstorm last week, I kept them locked up inside for three whole days (it was a blizzard, after all), and they were quacking their little heads off all day, every time they heard the back door open or someone walking in the snow, wanting to be let out. They're crazy

 

[CrazyFowlFreak]

My ducks all sleep under the chicken coop so far. Dh is in the middle of building them a (probably useless) duck house. Mostly, though, they sleep outside. So do my peafowl.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

My three ducks sleep in the henhouse primarily, but they also have a tendency to come out and waddle around in the pouring rain, snow, and whatever other weather we might be having. They come out of the henhouse at night and waddle around if they hear anything interesting at night, and sometimes eat and drink and quack, too. Doesn't bother me--they're large, robust ducks and if they want to get get wet or hang out in the weird weather, they can. They really don't seem to be bothered by it, and they have warm, dry shelter if they choose to use it (as they usually do, albeit in shifts). It's almost like they take the night shift of guarding the coop, while the guinea fowl guard the coop during the day.