Expanded Duck House Ideas

[MrKnittle]

Hi all!

I let one of my broody hens hatch out eggs from her and the three other girls. They all hatched Wednesday morning and are doing great. I'm planning on keeping them if they are hens and possibly hatching more in the future. There are currently one drake, four hens, and five ducklings. There's a bit of territory issue right now with the mama, the dad, and the lowest girl on the pecking order. No violence or harm towards the ducklings, but mama is very verbal and charging the other ducks, and dad is nipping the lowest girl for no reason. I've planned on rebuilding the duck house/coop since last fall. I'm implementing more simplicity, easier maintenance, and more room. I'm thinking of building a couple of modular box coops with slanted roofs that connect to a centralized run. If that works well, I can always expand the box coops or add more.
My question is, will this break up the flock into sub-flocks and cause more issues with aggression between them or will it help calm them down with more space to get out of each other's way? I would eventually like to ramp up egg production and incubating, so I am trying to avoid any pitfalls.

 

[Miss Lydia]

That is precious, Congrats to mama and you. What you need to do right now is give mama and ducklings their own space. Mama will be very protective for at least 3-4 weeks. Just keep everyone where they can see each other. And JFYI Drakes have been known to kill ducklings. Watch out for snapping turtles too they love making ducklings dinner. As for building on if your planning on doing hatching with your females then I would def have a few extra broody coops, My females love their privacy when brooding and don't like anyone else sharing their space. [Muscvoy] You can always use fencing to give mama and ducklings their own space for a while after hatching. Many of us do this.