Does anyone breed ancona or cayuga ducks?

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Our oldest ducks are bout 12 weeks old currently, and still living with the chickens in their run until our npip testing is complete. My questions are these: What do yall use for duck pens? What do you use for nesting for your ducks? We are pretty new to this so any hints/tips/tricks would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Welcome to BYC, and Semper FI!

dog houses with good ventilation and a secure door are nice since they are low to the ground and the ducks get in and out easily. The ducks we raise dont fly (khakis once mature dont fly). They all free range in different pastures during the day and are herded back to their houses at night. Pastures are fenced with field fencing. Smaller gorw out yards are fenced with step in posts or short green t-posts and garden fencing that is about knee high.

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Semper FI
& Thanks

The Cayuga ducks are like the khakies they don't even attempt to fly. Do yours come in on their own or do you actually have to heard them in when free ranging? Because of our horses I am thinking 3 or 4' garden fence around about a 30x30 pen for the 10 cayugas and another for the anconas. Not sure if they will fly or not. Dog houses seem like a good idea. I do have a couple of the igloo style ones. Just hay for bedding/nesting?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

we cant get straw so we use horse stall pellets and hay for nests. The Silver Appleyards come when we start yelling for evening chores. They slowly make their way to their stall. The Khakis have to be herded, doesnt matter how old they get, they would play all night if allowed. So far I am finding the same thing with the Ancona (they are still young). Will take a picture of the khaki house and post it, its wood,basic construction, easy to clean and should give you an idea to go from and get the building ideas going.

 

[Lady Ressler]

Mine are free rangers even at night until winter. My friend that I bought my ducks from has more of a cyote/predetor problem so she uses chain link dog kennel fence pannels. She would just call them in at night "Come on ducks" and then feed them. Once she started feeding them at night, they came right away when she called.

Inside the kennel (6'x9') she had an igloo type dog house for shelter and then a couple large or extra large cat boxes with out the flaps in which they laid their eggs. She waited till everyone laid their eggs and then let them out again for the day. This was all placed on a cement pad. If they were not going to be let out she would put one of those turttle pools/sand boxes for swiming. It works splendedly.

Good luck.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

try to avoid cement floors, bricks or concrete stepping stones and similar items. The roughness can cause sores on ducks feet which can lead to bumble foot.

using dog kennel panels is common, but you must use a 2-3 foot (at the ground level) hardware cloth skirt to prevent raccoons from reaching in and pulling a bird through the chain link bit by bit. (and they can and will do it)

allowing birds to wonder freely day and night sets them up to all predators, anyone who says they dont have predators is deceiving themselves.

 

[harriedhomemaker]

I am pretty new to ducks, but here is the set-up I have for my Anconas. So far, it is working well.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-harried-homemakers-duck-house

Only one of my ducks is laying at the moment and 3/4 of the time she'll lay in one of the attached nest boxes. The other 1/4 of the time she just lays in any old place in the duck house.

I use pine pellets for bedding. My ducks are currently separated from my chickens and turkeys because my turkeys like to herd the ducks and pick on them, so the ducks are confined to a grassy pen that is about 500 square feet. The fencing is constructed of 6' tall welded wire mesh and 8' T-posts. Obviously, it doesn't have to be that tall to keep in ducks.

The ducks will put themselves to bed when it becomes dark. If I want to make sure they are locked up and secure before then, we can herd them into their house pretty easily. MUCH easier than herding chickens!

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

we cant get straw so we use horse stall pellets and hay for nests. The Silver Appleyards come when we start yelling for evening chores. They slowly make their way to their stall. The Khakis have to be herded, doesnt matter how old they get, they would play all night if allowed. So far I am finding the same thing with the Ancona (they are still young). Will take a picture of the khaki house and post it, its wood,basic construction, easy to clean and should give you an idea to go from and get the building ideas going.

Been out of town so bare with me while i catch up. CeltiOaks: Good call on the horse bedding, I use that for all of our birds from the brooder to the coop So all of our ducks acctually cooped up on their own last night. I checked on them at 0300 when i got home to see a pile-o-ducks in the coop lol, but they for sure over crowd the coop now.

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Mine are free rangers even at night until winter. My friend that I bought my ducks from has more of a cyote/predetor problem so she uses chain link dog kennel fence pannels. She would just call them in at night "Come on ducks" and then feed them. Once she started feeding them at night, they came right away when she called.

Inside the kennel (6'x9') she had an igloo type dog house for shelter and then a couple large or extra large cat boxes with out the flaps in which they laid their eggs. She waited till everyone laid their eggs and then let them out again for the day. This was all placed on a cement pad. If they were not going to be let out she would put one of those turttle pools/sand boxes for swiming. It works splendedly.

Good luck.

Awesome! thanks for the ideas/info

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

try to avoid cement floors, bricks or concrete stepping stones and similar items. The roughness can cause sores on ducks feet which can lead to bumble foot.

using dog kennel panels is common, but you must use a 2-3 foot (at the ground level) hardware cloth skirt to prevent raccoons from reaching in and pulling a bird through the chain link bit by bit. (and they can and will do it)

allowing birds to wonder freely day and night sets them up to all predators, anyone who says they dont have predators is deceiving themselves.

Ive got 2 parmak 50+ mile fence chargers so ill prolly do hot wire on the duck pen just like the chicken run. What the wires dont get, the horses or my shotgun will