mrjd1981
In the Brooder
- Feb 26, 2015
- 16
- 2
- 24
Hello,
Looking for some input here. We started out with two pekin's turned out to both be male, about a month ago we lost one overnight.......which encouraged me to redouble my efforts on their pond construction. The idea was to put their house on an island in the middle, and big enough to discourage jumping to it. The pond is about 50' in dia, and the island is maybe 5-7ft in dia.
Even if a mammal (Fox,coyote) managed to jump the water to the island there is two openings on the duck house allowing the ducks to escape to the water.
All of this seems logical in my mind however there is one huge hitch...........The ducks refuse to stay in the house, on the island, or even in the water overnight. Unfortunately this led to another loss of one of our newer pekins'.
What I need advise on is.
Is my method flawed, Is there no choice but to lock them up every night?
Will ducks just not roost themselves in general even when trained from young age?
Is it a breed specific issue, do pekin's not roost, Where muscovy's or kahki's will?
Should we consider geese or a bigger bird to discourage predation if we intend to let them free range on a large pond?
Thanks in advance
JD
Looking for some input here. We started out with two pekin's turned out to both be male, about a month ago we lost one overnight.......which encouraged me to redouble my efforts on their pond construction. The idea was to put their house on an island in the middle, and big enough to discourage jumping to it. The pond is about 50' in dia, and the island is maybe 5-7ft in dia.
Even if a mammal (Fox,coyote) managed to jump the water to the island there is two openings on the duck house allowing the ducks to escape to the water.
All of this seems logical in my mind however there is one huge hitch...........The ducks refuse to stay in the house, on the island, or even in the water overnight. Unfortunately this led to another loss of one of our newer pekins'.
What I need advise on is.
Is my method flawed, Is there no choice but to lock them up every night?
Will ducks just not roost themselves in general even when trained from young age?
Is it a breed specific issue, do pekin's not roost, Where muscovy's or kahki's will?
Should we consider geese or a bigger bird to discourage predation if we intend to let them free range on a large pond?
Thanks in advance
JD