Duck housing

[PATOS]

View attachment 1770899 View attachment 1770898 View attachment 1770897 We used an old dog kennel from my in-laws(free), some hardwire cloth and chicken wire(also from in laws), an old playhouse of our daughters and weather proof tarp for our duckies! We only have 2 ducks at the moment and this works very well for them!

coooooool!!!!!!

 

[slippednfell]

We have a pond that is over an acre. We have four ducks that we keep contained in an expanded dog kennel (10 x 20) and a small duck house that was easy for my hubby to build. We used exterior paint on the inside so that it can be hosed out easily for cleaning. There is a piece of plywood so they can get between it and the house for shade or protection, if necessary.

We have 55 mostly wooded acres and this is not covered. We have not had any trouble so far (knock wood). We even went on a two week vacation and they did just fine.

If you use pallets, make sure they aren't treated with insecticides or other treatments that would harm your ducks.

 

[Nathalie]

Mine have two coops with roof at their disposal, but they never use it unless to lay an egg in it or to sit on eggs. They free roam in the backyard, and when the weather goes completely tits up they simply hide underneath the fruit trees or one of the many thick bushes. Usually they don't even do that, they just lay in the rain or snow and take a quick nap until it clears up a bit. And then they start to hunt down the many worms that start to surface. Mind you, mine are Muscovy ducks AND we don't have any major predators here on my side of the country that could handle these big birds without getting completely scuffed up or even killed (specially by the 7lb big daddy drake, oh boy, he's one protective male, I tell ya).

As for their bathing: they have 3 plastic tubs that get cleaned every 5-6 days. If it's a hot week I'll clean them out twice a week. They used to have a 500L small fishpond, but that didn't turn out to be a good idea. These big birds poop A LOT, and after only a few days it completely turned green and stank up the place. Even a big filtering system couldn't handle the job at all. And emptying it out and cleaning it out every week was too much of hassle (not to mention that our rainwater pit was getting depleted fast by it). Hence the reason I now use the 3 tubs. One of these days I'll dig a big hole for them, kinda like a natural mini lake, but for the meantime the 3 tubs get the job done.

The ducklings on the other hand do have a separate pen with roofed coop, with netting over the entire pen (and also a tub of course). This until they are 6 to 8 weeks old. This is because of the local seagulls, ravens and craws who do like a small duckling as dinner when given the chance.

No pictures of it yet though.

 

[Mad Murduck]

I set up a 15×35 run with a 5x5 house for my 6 ducks. They get the run of the yard when I'm out,which is beneficial in so many ways. I set up a 50' run through my overgrown vinca and sedum bed that resides beneath the white oak and redbud so they can do duck stuff while I'm inside . If I am not out they will ignore the dick ban that I have place on the swimming pool,or worse discover the river , if I am present they behave. I made the whole enclosure module in the event that it needs to move . Working on getting the pond ( I use that term loosely as it's only 4×8) functioning on solar and or wind this week and adding another 20 gal tub in order to grow duckweed. Most of my local predators are nocturnal so they get locked up at night,the crow network and welded wire overhead keep the hawks eagles osprey and host of other flying menaces away. I have 40 ish square foot of vent at the top of their house so it maintains a pleasant temperature and ammonia isnt an issue.