Duck-Keeping Questions - advice needed! :)

[ClemenDucks]

Hi everyone, I am a noob to duck-keeping so i have some questions! If any of my care is incorrect, please politely let me know! First, I'll start with the housing. I have my 1 female and 1 male Pekin ducklings temporarily living in a 110 quart storage bin with a lot of holes drilled in the top, which brings me to my next point. I need some advice on building a duck coop (or buying one, what to look for). I really want to add on to my ducks so it would have to be big enough to house 4-6 ducks. They will be free-ranged most of the day as well. Our hens and ducks will be sharing the yard, so I want to make sure that this is ok. Next is the feeding. I currently feed my ducklings a mix of Purina Premium Brand Flock Raiser Poultry Feed with a combo of some kind of antibiotic poultry feed as well (Not exactly sure what it's called). Also, ducklings are supposed to look kind of weird while growing feathers, right? My ducklings are about two weeks old and have some interesting almost bald spots, and their wings look a bit red; I think it is just part of them growing feathers. I don't think that I'm missing anything, and any advice helps! Thank you for taking the time to read this and have an awesome day!

 

[Richb353]

Sounds like you are on the right track, especially about adding a few extra birds. Two ducks seems like too small of a flock to me, but I have 23 and am somewhat biased! I started my hobby duck farm this past October, so I'm not that far ahead of you, but here are some things I would recommend:

I let my ducks free range during the day, but at dusk they all get returned to a secure house. Otherwise they will get eaten by coyotes. I had to learn this the hard way.

My coop has an open floor and wheels. My yard is fairly flat, so the bottom of the quack shack sits flush. I then push some landscaping timbers around the bottom to deter predators from digging in. Eventually I will use stones.

I had to put wheels on my quack shack because of all the mess and fertilizer the ducks produce. 23 ducks can fertilize a 10'x10' pretty quickly, so I move their house at least once a week to a fresh patch of grass. I do have some healthy 10' square patches of grass around the yard!





The Quack Shack was built from scratch and cost me about $600. All the material was found at Lowes/Home Depot. I have seen some chain link dog kennels at Tractor Supply for around $300. I'm in Florida so airflow and shade were the priority. It is recommended that your coop is big enough to give each duck 4'-5' of space. I made sure my duck house is big enough that I can safely leave my ducks in it for a couple days if I went out of town for a weekend.

Enjoy,
Rich

 

[ClemenDucks]

Thanks for that advice!! Very helpful. Also if someone could help me out, my Pekin's feet are turning red?? I'm freaked out !