Floating duck house

[Esme2345]

Hi everyone I’ve recently hatched 4 pekin ducklings. They’re just over 1 week old. I’m thinking of getting a floating duck house for a large pond are they effective against predators? I live in England so the only predators I have to worry about is foxes. Are floating houses fox proof or would I need to put fencing around the pond? Thank you

 

[black_cat]

Hi everyone I’ve recently hatched 4 pekin ducklings. They’re just over 1 week old. I’m thinking of getting a floating duck house for a large pond are they effective against predators? I live in England so the only predators I have to worry about is foxes. Are floating houses fox proof or would I need to put fencing around the pond? Thank you

**As someone who has never had ducks, but knows about predator proofing** Foxes can swim, so fencing the pond and making sure that all of the ventilation is predator proof, door gets closed at night, etc, are all very important. In my opinion it would be difficult to maintain something that was floating on water (hard to change bedding, refill food/water, close door at night and reopen, etc) but you do you.

 

[LT71689]

You'd still have to 'put them up' at night because of swimming predators, which might defeat the pros of putting a coop on the pond in the first place. Pekins cant fly so their only luck on the water is to swim faster than their predator, and if the house was left open overnight they could easily get trapped or have a predator waiting for them when they come home. It could be done, you'd attach a cable to the coop and haul it in to shore at night to lock them in and again in the morning to let them out and clean everything up, but at that point you might as well just put it on land.

Fencing the pond would include digging a skirt around the whole thing, and then you're also keeping any other wildlife from utilizing the resource as well.

 

[black_cat]

I've seen the floating duck houses and they are very cute and pretty, I just think it would be impractical from a maintenance and safety perspective.

 

[LT71689]

Foxes also arent the only things you have thatll grab a duck. Mink/weasels, badgers, raccoons, stray dogs and cats, etc as well as aquatic problems like snakes and snapping turtles in the pond itself

 

[ibarbidahl]

Trust me when I say floating houses are great.... but unless you attach a leash to the duck (joking, honest) they will NOT stay there. They will go to the shoreline and any weeds you may have. They prefer to be either in the water or on the land. Predators will have a buffet.