duck run - how tall?

[TLWR]

runners and maybe a pekin - how tall should I make a predator proof enclosed run to attach to a night house for them?


And while I'm at it... how hot is too hot for water?
I put a small kiddie pool on the deck for the dogs. It is 92 out. The water was 109. I wouldn't put the dogs in there - I'm thinking that may be too hot for ducks too. Not that it would be on the deck for them, but still.

 

[katharinad]

You will need a roof to make it predator proof. You will also need to bury the sides into the ground and perhaps add an electric fence. Chicken wire does not protect anything, because raccoons will tear it up. My run is 4 feet tall with welded wire and reinforced with hardware cloth on the bottom. It does not have a roof, but I look them into the duck house each night. They have been trained to go in before it gets dark and all I do is close the door. So I take the risk of a predator getting into the pen, but quite honest most predators come out at night in my neck of the woods. Part because I have 4 dogs running loose at all times. OK, they cannot get off my property due to fencing. So this kind of depends on where you live.

Water. Yes, over a 100 is kind of hot. Can you put it into the shade or have a shade cloth over it? I have a shade cloth suspended on four 10" t-poles. Was less then a 100 bucks, including the shade cloth, and it really works nicely. Some people put ice blocks into their pools. Perhaps you can drain some water midday and top it off with fresh cold water. A water misting system will reduce the air temp by 20-30 degrees. They are quite cheap at Walmart.

 

[TLWR]

The stuff I've found so far suggests that just hardware cloth alone should be enough to make it predator proof - top/bottom/sides/ends

Road kill around here is armadillo and opossum - I have not seen raccoons (not to say we don't have them, just haven't seen evidence of them). We have some loose dogs in the neighborhood, but I've only ever seen little ones on our property and since fencing, they stay in the front. My neighbor says we have a fox. I know we have something that steals eggs as my front yard and driveway is littered with egg shells which I assume were stolen from the neighbors ducks and snacked on in my yard.

 

[Amiga]

I have a night pen that is half inch hardware cloth all around. It is four feet tall (I am only 5'4") four feet wide and about eight feet long. I have two strands of equine electric tape around the house and night pen. One at about six inches above ground, one at about two feet.

We have a long list of predators, including fox, coyote and raccoon.

I am working on their day yard as well. Neighbors report foxes taking a duck in broad daylight, and coyotes roaming during the day as well. So the day yard, just a bit above three feet tall, will have a coated woven wire (2"x4") top. There will be a center panel that I can open up so I can stand to do occasional rake-outs. And a door at the other end of the yard from the entrance door to the night pen.

Due to ground conditions, I have coated chain link fence sandwiched between two six inch wide boards to prevent digging under. This is the day yard, remember. The night pen has concrete block around the base, dug in about eight inches where possible, and surrounded by a concrete block and stone curtain where digging was not possible (so, probably predators would not have been able to dig in from that side either, but who wants to take the chance?)

The day yard is much lower because of my beloved's concerns that it look too gargantuan for our small yard. So I will have to squat and duck walk some. No big deal, it will keep me young.

 

[nettie]

I would make it at least as tall as as you are. This makes climbing in their to retrieve eggs, clean, catching a duck etc easier. If you make it short, it can be a pain to get in there when you'll need to.

 

[Show-MeGamebirds]

I dont have ducks, (but want some runners) I just wanted to say to nettie your ducks are adorable! Love your avatar!

 

[agregg15]

Quote:
Where there are ducks there will be 'coons.

 

[Amiga]

I see I posted to this topic about a year ago - here's a quick update.

I made the day pen about a meter high. And it has been easy for me (on the small side of medium) to maneuver in the pen for cleanup, duck catching, etc. It now has some railing planters with nasturtiums and lettuce on it, and it looks very nice. I put in a large (4'x4') hatch door so that if I want to, I can stand straight up to do maintenance work like raking or shoveling.

Some day I hope to paint the posts a dark green but for now it's fine.

I extended the electric tape around the day pen when I realized something (likely a raccoon) had climbed up onto it overnight, knocking over an empty planter.