Duck housing needs?

[Sami's Mommy]

How much space do 2 Muscovy ducks need for a house to be locked in at night? And what about for a pen for during the day? Do they need a pool?

 

[TheItyBittyBarn]

With being an owner of 3 Rouen ducks I would recommend a house for at night to at least be 3 by 4 and an outer run at least 4 by 9. This gives them plenty of room to play. If you are adventurous I recommend a chicken tractor. Since it is movable you can push it across the lawn giving the ducks new places to search for bugs and keep grass from dying. They also give you the perks of pest control and free lawn fertilizer. I highly, highly recommend a pool. Ducks are naturally water animals and love to splash around. I also love watching them splash around and seeing them happy makes me happy. It doesn't have to be anything big and fancy either. My ducks now have a small pond to swim in but before we dug that they swam in a kitty pool that we got at Menard's for about $10. Beware though, they are very messy and you will want to hose it out a lot to keep it clean and fresh!

 

[TheItyBittyBarn]

And if you have any more questions please ask, I love to help!

 

[Going Quackers]

A kiddy pool will be just fine and is needed for them, muscovy are not as water hoggy as mallard derived they still need to be able to clean and splash a bit.

Sizing wise, well i would go for as large as you can, do you ever plan on more? i know we started with 4... that number has bounced up and down over the years, currently i sit at 14

What is the weather like in your area? for us we get long, drawn out cold winters so some days the ducks don't come out so i had to consider that for the barn/building size.

Pens as said ducks love to splash and play in the mud, more room means you have a slight decrease in the mess, to concentrated of an area will make it worse.

Now for specifics Storey's guide ducks suggests 2 to 6 sqft per bid depending upon their size, for housing.

 

[pecangrove]

Not to hijack the thread, but if you use a portable pen, how would you use a kiddie pool in there in a way that it would pulled along too? Or would have to have a separate pen for the pool?

 

[TheItyBittyBarn]

To reply to the kittie pool question you can just use a small kitty pool that is above ground and when you move the pen you simply dump the water out and clean it, move the pen, and then refill the kitty pool in a new location.

 

[Sami's Mommy]

I live in town and wouldn't go up in numbers from 2. I'm planning to build them a house to be locked in at night and with our last trio they had one of those baby/ puppy play pens that's 8 panels of 3 sq feet. Will that pen work? At least until our backyard fence is built. Although we have a lab mix so they might not get to use the fence unless they can hold their own. The calls came out of the chicken house everyday during the winter to play in the snow as far as I'm aware of. And if it's too cold we can always put the pen in the garage to play in. They will have their wings clipped since the pen is only 3 feet high. We used a kiddie pool for the calls, but they broke it so I will need to buy a new one for these guys. I plan to get 2 ducklings next weekend, hoping someone can help me at the swap to pick out girls, but otherwise if I get a boy he will just need to be nice to the little kids if he is allowed in the normal fence

 

[Sami's Mommy]

Would that pen work?

 

[maxandruby]

I have ducklings and have been using one of my kids plastic sleds for a 'pond' they finally have big duck feathers and can safely get wet. It is not deep but they splash and run through the water. it is light and durable.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I live in town and wouldn't go up in numbers from 2. I'm planning to build them a house to be locked in at night and with our last trio they had one of those baby/ puppy play pens that's 8 panels of 3 sq feet. Will that pen work? At least until our backyard fence is built. Although we have a lab mix so they might not get to use the fence unless they can hold their own. The calls came out of the chicken house everyday during the winter to play in the snow as far as I'm aware of. And if it's too cold we can always put the pen in the garage to play in. They will have their wings clipped since the pen is only 3 feet high. We used a kiddie pool for the calls, but they broke it so I will need to buy a new one for these guys. I plan to get 2 ducklings next weekend, hoping someone can help me at the swap to pick out girls, but otherwise if I get a boy he will just need to be nice to the little kids if he is allowed in the normal fence

I just want to adress that remark about the ducks being able to hold their own with your lab mix. They have no defence and dogs even wanting to play can seriously injure a duck.