Ducks at night: how much protection?

[TexanDuckMama]

In Central Texas, We have 3 levels of yard for our 4 ducks and 1 goose:
1) YARD: the loosely fenced in area they range in during the day,
2) the KEEP: the 8'x16' fenced (2"x4" cattle fencing, dug in 2' in the ground) (the only thing I've seen sneak in a young possum, which they seem to co-exist with); has food, water and a small pool
3) the FORT: a raised wood coop that absolutely secure (draw bridge door with 2 sliding bolts, locked with carabiners), adequate ventilation, lots of hay.

we currently let them out of the wood FORT at sunrise, usually into the YARD all day, bring them back to the KEEP at sunset, and put them all up in the FORT when we go to bed.

I'm questioning now that they are full grown, do we need to keep putting them in the FORT?
We are thinking of going on vacation and getting someone to let the out at sunrise is difficult.
I've looked at automatic doors, but our door way is 23" wide by 28"wide as it should be with large chinese goose and 3 pekin hens (and 1 mallard boy) and none of the doors would easily fit that and frankly they are scary with crushing of ducks, etc.

Can I hear your opinions on how much security our small urban band of ducks with a controlling goose needs at night? We back onto a park in suburbia, we do have raccoons, foxes, possums, and the rare band of coyotes that roam the narrow strip of "forest" thru the park, which is what made us make our 3 tiered system.

 

[DukesDucks]

I think the only way they will be safe is in the fort at night. Lots of predators use the cover of night to their advantage. Is there anyway someone could come and let them into the keep in the morning and put them back in the fort at night?

 

[KaleIAm]

I think the only way they will be safe is in the fort at night. Lots of predators use the cover of night to their advantage. Is there anyway someone could come and let them into the keep in the morning and put them back in the fort at night?

x2

 

[Ratchnick]

A racoon can climb the fence and kill all you ducks in one night. You need to weight the hastle and cost of getting someone to manage the ducks vs the trauma of loosing them. Alternatively If you put wire on top of the run so nothing can climb the fence they are fairly safe. A racoon could still reach through and get one but hopefully not all of them.

 

[Thunderduck9]

If you need to ask this question you shouldnt own ducks

 

[Aapomp831]

Yes. Absolutely in the fort.

 

[3bird]

I'm curious about The Keep. I'm assuming it doesn't have a roof? How did the possum make it in?

Our ducks have a covered run (our Keep) that is attached to their elevated duckhouse (our Fort). The run is predator proofed (we use a predator apron instead of digging down), so we don't lock them in at night.

You could cover the Keep with hardware cloth, add a hardware cloth apron and a predator proof roof. Then you would not have to lock them in.

I would NOT leave them in the The Keep at night as is.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Ducks ib my experience are nearly as bad as quail when it comes to going to bed. They tend to just lay down where they are, or maybe under a bush if they feel like it

 

[DukesDucks]

Our ducks have a covered run (our Keep) that is attached to their elevated duckhouse (our Fort). The run is predator proofed (we use a predator apron instead of digging down), so we don't lock them in at night.

My run is also attached to the coop. I think run is predator proof. I do lock them in coop for the night but that is because of our freezing cold temperatures especially at night.
If your set up is like this, could someone let them out in the morning and in at night. You are going to need someone to come anyway to ensure they have food and water.

 

[3bird]

My run is also attached to the coop. I think run is predator proof. I do lock them in coop for the night but that is because of our freezing cold temperatures especially at night.
If your set up is like this, could someone let them out in the morning and in at night. You are going to need someone to come anyway to ensure they have food and water.

I'm assuming the OP is in Texas, so there should not be many times when the ducks would need to be locked in. We live in Maine, and I can count on one hand the number of times we've locked our guys in at night over the last three years. The seem to be pretty smart about making choices (e.g., in or out).

We do wrap three sides of our run in 6mm plastic, so they are out of the wind, but they'll be up partying in the run in the middle of the night even in a blizzard. lol