- Mar 12, 2017
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I have six ducks and 22 chickens. My "coop" is a 10 x 16 shed, and the ducks currently have it to themselves. In a few days, it'll have huge runs on either side - one for the ducks and one for the chicks. They'll also get free-range time most days unless I'm not home or super busy.
The run on the duck side is half-covered with a metal roof and half-covered with hardware cloth. It's really nice. I know ducks don't like to go up at night as chickens do, so they may stay out. It's got shade and sun and will protect them from the weather (I'm in the middle of Georgia, and heat is more of an issue than cold.)
The run on the chicken side will be covered with garden netting since they will put themselves up at night and our main day-time predator is a hawk. I may eventually change that to hardware cloth too since we have a fox who likes to hang around in the middle of the day on occasion. Run walls are between 6-8 feet tall.
So, my question is about the building. My original plan was to put a hardware cloth wall inside the shed to keep ducks and chickens separate but let them see each other. Ducks would only get about 4 x 10 feet, chickens would get 12 x 10. However, I keep reading that ducks don't necessarily need an inside space as long as they have a lean-to or somewhere that they can get out of the elements. I think I'm afraid I'll go to all the trouble (and spend the money) to make the wall, and the ducks won't step foot back inside once they're out. I'm just wondering what everyone else does for their ducks. Do they need that inside space? Thanks!
Edited to add a picture of the duck run (you can see the rafters where the metal roof will be, and the hardware cloth will cover the rest, which you can't see it all because it comes out a good ways...)
The run on the duck side is half-covered with a metal roof and half-covered with hardware cloth. It's really nice. I know ducks don't like to go up at night as chickens do, so they may stay out. It's got shade and sun and will protect them from the weather (I'm in the middle of Georgia, and heat is more of an issue than cold.)
The run on the chicken side will be covered with garden netting since they will put themselves up at night and our main day-time predator is a hawk. I may eventually change that to hardware cloth too since we have a fox who likes to hang around in the middle of the day on occasion. Run walls are between 6-8 feet tall.
So, my question is about the building. My original plan was to put a hardware cloth wall inside the shed to keep ducks and chickens separate but let them see each other. Ducks would only get about 4 x 10 feet, chickens would get 12 x 10. However, I keep reading that ducks don't necessarily need an inside space as long as they have a lean-to or somewhere that they can get out of the elements. I think I'm afraid I'll go to all the trouble (and spend the money) to make the wall, and the ducks won't step foot back inside once they're out. I'm just wondering what everyone else does for their ducks. Do they need that inside space? Thanks!
Edited to add a picture of the duck run (you can see the rafters where the metal roof will be, and the hardware cloth will cover the rest, which you can't see it all because it comes out a good ways...)
