Ducklings and Chicks and Bears/Wolves/Weasels Ducks sleep outside?

[JuicyFatHead]

I'm getting my very first small flock of ducks.. 6 black cayugas.. soon. I'll be raising them with my new chicks coming in at the same time. I wondered how much bigger are the duckling and will I have to build a second brooder for the ducklings? Also, we are in the process of building a second coop for our new flux of birds... I heard ducks like to try and sleep outside at night. Here in Alaska, we have to lockdown our animals with buried fencing, electricity, and wire/string up top to keep out predators at night. During the day I keep a shotgun outside with me.. and usually bears only come through if they don't know I'm around or at night. SO, am I going to be chasing these ducks in every night? I'm especially afraid coyotes/wolves will get them if they sleep under a tree as I read somewhere!

 

[4-H chicken mom]

I would separate the ducklings from the chicks. Ducks are messy and like to play in the water which chicks do not. Where you are located, I would bulid a covered run for the ducks attached to a secure place for night. It will be much easier to herd them in before dark, because yes they will want to stay outside. Good luck.

 

[JuicyFatHead]

Quote:
Ok, thank you! The more I read on here, the more I was thinking separate would be BEST. I'm in rural Alaska. Our flock is free range, however we have a large, long run for them (locked up often in the winter with predators and 4 ft + snow). We are building a second coop and extending the run for more chickens. So build a separate little coop for the ducks?

 

[rainplace]

It's easy to train ducks to go to bed at night. When you first put them in their new housing, do so at night so they are locked in all night. I always use temp fencing so that it is easy to herd them back in for the first week. I make the fencing so they cannot get behind or under their new house when I herd them in at night. I also always start the routine with clapping my hands and saying, "Time to go to bed." They quickly begin to understand that the clapping means it's time to go to the house. After they start heading in when you tell them to, remove the temp fencing and allow them their entire yard. I've found that ducks are easy to train to routines.

 

[dumb_cluck]

When you construct the duck pen keep in mind: ducks like to sleep at the perimeter of their containment. I lost all my mallards in one night to a mink who got into the garage and reached into each cage and killed them.

Even tough I thought that being in an enclosed garage AND in enclosed pens would protect them........it DID NOT.

Chickens roost and are apt to stay high. Ducks lay down near the edges of their "pen".

Please learn for my horrible experience. Thanks for listening....

 

[The Duck ABC's]

Ducks love routines. You put them up at night into a duck house they will love sleeping in it. One trick is to have food and water inside of it. My full grown ducks get food in the morning outside of the duck house. Then at lunch they come back up from the meadow for more food. In the evening shortly before dusk, they stand in front of the duck house waiting for the dinner. They cannot get into the duck house in the daytime and in the evening they have to wait to be let in. I never have to heard my ducks to bed. They are ready and want it. It helps to have a baby night light in the duck house. The light makes them feel secure. So it is all in the training and establishing a routine.

 

[JuicyFatHead]

Quote:
That's terrible! Thank you so much for sharing though. That's one of those things I wouldn't know until it happened to me. My neighbor had a weasel get in and kill all of his pheasants before he could even get out there. That quickly. I was going to make a coop for them and lock them up in there. We'll extend our current pen to include the new chicken coop and duck coop. The only problem I had last year was a bear that tore the coop doors off (because I the electric wire was unplugged!) and later in the summer he walked through the open pen door to munch on compost. The rest of the time it was hawks. I'm thinking though, with as many more birds as we'll have, we are going to attract a lot more wildlife. Digging wildlife

 

[JuicyFatHead]

The Duck ABC's :

Ducks love routines. You put them up at night into a duck house they will love sleeping in it. One trick is to have food and water inside of it. My full grown ducks get food in the morning outside of the duck house. Then at lunch they come back up from the meadow for more food. In the evening shortly before dusk, they stand in front of the duck house waiting for the dinner. They cannot get into the duck house in the daytime and in the evening they have to wait to be let in. I never have to heard my ducks to bed. They are ready and want it. It helps to have a baby night light in the duck house. The light makes them feel secure. So it is all in the training and establishing a routine.

Wow! This is really encouraging! I read somewhere that you can help train them with peas too! haha how cute. I'll definitely take the tips you all have given me about getting them into a routine. I feel so much better about it now. I'll have to learn as a I go along, being a duck first timer.. but BYC sure helps!​

 

[The Duck ABC's]

Ducks do anything for peas and watermelon. I usually call "Who wants peas?" and they come running.

 

[JuicyFatHead]

Haha! That's awesome! We grow a lot of peas here. It's one of the best crops in AK