Duck house questions- how important is a roof that lifts up and other questions

[Shayrae4]

My husband and I are planning on building a house for our ducks this weekend. We have a 6x10 dog run for them, and we’re putting the house inside the run.

I’m pretty dead set on having one where the entire roof lifts up, but am having a hard time finding plans with one like that. Is this something you wish you had or are glad you do? (hoping for this so I can spray it out when needed). IF we have nesting boxes that lift up, is a roof that also lifts up still needed?

other questions I have:

how important are nesting boxes?

how many sq ft per duck do I need the house to be? I am not really planning on locking the ducks inside the house. They will always have access to their 6x10 run at the very least. Most the time they will have free reign of our fenced back yard. But also just out of curiosity, IF we have a predator problem and need to lock them inside, what’s the recommended sq footage for that?

If you can post pictures, direct me links with plans, or even something to buy, I’d love to look! to this is the plan I am leaning towards.

 

[LT71689]

I'd say roofs really depend on the dimensions for the rest of the house, the bedding you're using, and how you plan to clean it out. If I were to build a house from scratch I'd insist it was tall enough for me to stand in (basically I would build a shed) to make clean outs simpler and less back-breaking, so I'd just go with a regular roof. Some folks raise their houses/coops off the ground so they're more at waist/chest height and the whole side swings open so bedding can get pushed out, but ducks don't usually love ramps so I'd only choose that option with chickens. Keeping in mind how much moisture ducks create and how important venting is, I'd steer clear of low roofs that don't allow the air to rise and circulate well. I'm only 5 feet tall so there wouldnt be a benefit to a pop-off roof, the sides would all be too tall (in order to be adequate) for me to reach over, I'd have to get a ladder to climb inside it. In that case I'd just open up one of the walls instead.

Nesting boxes probably aren't needed - ducks are more than happy to just hunker down in a corner (if they get broody at all, if they're not especially broody they'll just drop eggs wherever)

A typical recommendation is 4 sqft per bird inside the house, but if you have LOTS of ducks or large breed ducks bigger is ALWAY better. Ducks are very messy and very wet animals, from their poop to their breath, so any way you can maximize space so that their bedding and surroundings get a chance to dry out, is for the best. Also if you put anything on the floor like feeders or water bowls or whatever, that space obviously shouldnt be counted in their useable square footage.

 

[3bird]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens!

Whether or not an opening roof is desirable depends on lots of factors. Here in Maine, the snowload would make it not so desirable. Also, if it were low enough to be easy to open and access, I would worry a bit about the space inside and ventilation, but I'm sure you could design around that problem.

We opted for an elevated duckhouse, and it's worked quite well for us. It increases your run size and clean out is a breeze because everything is at waist level. We use the deep litter method (combination of shavings and straw), and we'll do one big clean out in the spring. We built a "tailgate" door on the back of the duckhouse, so we just drive the tractor up, rake the bedding into the bucket and dump it in the compost. Maybe 20 minutes give or take...

We have a 4x8 duckhouse for six large breed ducks (silver Appleyards), so about 5.33 square feet per duck. You can get a sense of what that looks like in the picture below. We've kept seven ducks in the same duckhouse no problem.

Our ducks have 24/7 access 99% of the time to a 16x8 predator proof run, where we offer free choice food, water and oyster shells. Our predator proof run is covered in hardware cloth and has a shingle roof, predator apron and secure, locking door. Our ducks use a ramp to access the duckhouse from the run.

The area under the run is fenced off (just wire fencing) with a door that we leave open most of the time. If we need to separate a duck (and you more than likely will if you keep a drake with a small flock of hens), we use that area at night. I can't emphasize enough building in a plan to be able to isolate a bird without separating that bird from the flock.

We do not have nesting boxes. Our girls almost always lay eggs in nests they build in the corder of the duckhouse or in the area underneath. Below is a picture of Martha sitting on a nest she has built in the corner of the duckhouse.

We supervise about an hour of free ranging in the morning and in the evening. During the day, we generally turn our ducks out into two adjacent fields. During breeding season, we often need to separate them into two groups, so we have a gate between the fields. These fields are not 100% predator proof, especially from aerial attack, which is something we worry about. We do have a very robust crow population that harasses any raptor, and the ducks are very tuned into the crows and our good about seeking shelter (they have plants under which they can hide, a small pavilion type shelter and, of course, the duckhouse.

Regarding the "if we have a predator problem," you don't have a predator problem until you do, and then you can very quickly lose your whole flock. It's better to assess the risks now and make the decision with which you feel comfortable. If we are not outside with them, we will lock our guys into the run during the day this time of year and into the spring when the foxes are denning and the coyotes are mating. We will lock them in if we see an eagle hanging around, etc. During the winter, they will often go our for a swim in the morning and evening but then elect to go into the run for the rest of the day. For our six large breed ducks, our run size and duckhouse size seem sufficient.

Here is a picture of our duckhouse and run:

...and the other side:

There is a link to our entire duckhouse build under our avatar. We're happy to answer any questions, and please keep us posted!