Duck house

[duckmama1970]

We have to get a duck house here soon, my ducks are 5 weeks old tomorrow and I need to know what kind of things are a must have inside their coop, it’s my first time owning ducks and I want to make sure they have the proper space to be in during the night. I have 3 pekin ducks, we also have 7 Rhode Island Reds which are getting a separate coop from the ducks. For starters I know that the duck ramp needs to be more flat surfaces and needs to be less of an incline. I would like to know what size is a good size coop for 3 pekin ducks? Do they need to have a nesting area within the coop? What kind of ventilation do they need? I don’t want to get a coop that’s wrong for them so if someone with good experience in this could help me out with this information I would greatly appreciate it. Hope everybody has a great Memorial Day!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Where are you located? Your climate can dictate how simple or complicated housing needs to be. Ducks are fairly hardy, and don't require too much. I only have muscovy, so hopefully someone who keeps other breeds can help out more.

 

[Quatie]

You will want at least 4sq ft per bird, but more space is always better. So for you that would 12sq ft minimum

On average it is recommended to have at least 1sq ft of ventilation per 10sq ft of coop. Again more is better. Ducks have wetter poops and will need that ventilation to stay dry.

Ducks don't need nesting areas. You can give them some, but they may not use them at all. They are happy to lay their eggs everywhere and anywhere. It is sometimes a daily egg hunt.

I also highly recommend a coop without any ramp. On the ground is far better. My coop is off the ground because I have flood irrigation on my property. So I had to elevate it so the coop won't flood. I wish I didn't need to. When I first did the ramp, I had mostly Pekin and they would just fall off the ramp. One got really bad leg injury and eventually died due to the injury. We added safety railings to our ramp shortly after she fell. Ducks can learn to use ramps, but Pekin are more prone to leg injury from them.

 

[duckmama1970]

Where are you located? Your climate can dictate how simple or complicated housing needs to be. Ducks are fairly hardy, and don't require too much. I only have muscovy, so hopefully someone who keeps other breeds can help out more.

I’m in Ohio north of Cleveland, so weather can be very up and down and we can have harsher winters as far as temperatures go. I just want to make sure they are well taken care of for all seasons here.

 

[duckmama1970]

You will want at least 4sq ft per bird, but more space is always better. So for you that would 12sq ft minimum

On average it is recommended to have at least 1sq ft of ventilation per 10sq ft of coop. Again more is better. Ducks have wetter poops and will need that ventilation to stay dry.

Ducks don't need nesting areas. You can give them some, but they may not use them at all. They are happy to lay their eggs everywhere and anywhere. It is sometimes a daily egg hunt.

I also highly recommend a coop without any ramp. On the ground is far better. My coop is off the ground because I have flood irrigation on my property. So I had to elevate it so the coop won't flood. I wish I didn't need to. When I first did the ramp, I had mostly Pekin and they would just fall off the ramp. One got really bad leg injury and eventually died due to the injury. We added safety railings to our ramp shortly after she fell. Ducks can learn to use ramps, but Pekin are more prone to leg injury from them.

Thank you so much! This is so so helpful! I do have limited space, we are building the chicken coop, and their outside enclosure will be about 20 ft long 3/4 feet wide. They chicken coop is going to be about 4/5ft wide. I will see what we can do because I want to give them what they need. Again thank you so much.

 

[KentuckyDuckMomma]

I’m looking into the same and I’ve researched and looked on Amazon and rural King, tractor supply, etc. mine are 5 weeks and our weather is hot/humid and winters get below freezing. I haven’t build or ordered anything because I really don’t know because we have predators (mainly foxes and coyotes) since I’m out in the country. I only have two runner ducks and just super worried about them being out

 

[Miss Lydia]

You want to cover all openings with hardware cloth it's a pain to work with but the only thing that will keep out predators.
Do you plan to move your ducklings out soon?

 

[KentuckyDuckMomma]

You want to cover all openings with hardware cloth it's a pain to work with but the only thing that will keep out predators.
Do you plan to move your ducklings out soon?

Yes, I plan to very soon and would love to have them out now but I just can’t seem to buy a house/coop because I want to make sure it’s going to hold up between weather and predators

 

[Miss Lydia]

Maybe a friend or family member would help you build one? Doesn't have to be beautiful just safe.

 

[laboroflove]

I would suggest no ramp if at all possible. I have Muscovies and they nest on the ground. I had some chicken nest boxes that were built just laying on the ground in my barn and my hens did use those. That being said, currently my hen is nested in between two feed barrels.

We have had predator issues recently so we are working on building a duck coop for them. I did save a thread from here showing the ducks coop we are going to somewhat mimic. I wish I knew how to share it.