free ranging ducks

[DUCKGIRL89]

Quote:
X2 they do need room to play. Hey did you find a drake yet?

 

[Evelle]

Quote:
X2 they do need room to play. Hey did you find a drake yet?

NO

im so sad i wanted baby duckies this spring.. i guess ill have to order one and wait two more springs

but i did find i hidden nest with 25 eggs in it and one of my girls souix is broody. i dont know how to brake her of it since its way in a corner under the coop and i could hardly get the eggs out !!!

DARN IF ONLY I HAD A BOY!!!!

for got to say i found mascovies on criags list 6 for free 1 year old

but she never got back to me so i guess they are gone

right about now id go for any type of drake lol but ideally would like a sweed

 

[kuntrygirl]

Mine free range all day. Most of them just sleep in the chicken yard. I really don't have a predatory problem.

Some will fly in the raised coop and roost with the chickens, others will go in the chicken house and sleep on the floor while others will go in the stalls and sleep on the floor or fly on the roost, some will fly on the peafowl aviary and sleep there and some will fly in the trees and sleep in the trees. Every night is different.

 

[Evelle]

Quote:
yours fly??????

THATS SOOO COOL!! what kind do ya have?
hahaha never mind im a tard

(just look duh)

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Quote:
X2 they do need room to play. Hey did you find a drake yet?

NO

im so sad i wanted baby duckies this spring.. i guess ill have to order one and wait two more springs

but i did find i hidden nest with 25 eggs in it and one of my girls souix is broody. i dont know how to brake her of it since its way in a corner under the coop and i could hardly get the eggs out !!!

DARN IF ONLY I HAD A BOY!!!!

for got to say i found mascovies on criags list 6 for free 1 year old

but she never got back to me so i guess they are gone

right about now id go for any type of drake lol but ideally would like a sweed

Hey if your girl is broody, ill send ya some hatching eggs

PM me if you do want some.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
yours fly??????

THATS SOOO COOL!! what kind do ya have?
hahaha never mind im a tard

(just look duh)

Yep, the little buggars fly. It's a beautiful sight to see. The take off in the morning and circle around the property and partially down the road about 3 times and come back and then land on the aviary or the house. They do this several times a day.

 

[evansacres]

I have six ducks right now and they free range from 6:30 a.m. to dusk. They have access to lots of ground and a small stream that they spend most of their day in. I luckily haven't had any issues with predators at all and they have had the company of several wild mallards lately. Around 6:30/7:00 pm they all tramp up to the house and the girls start to quack LOUDLY. They wait for me at the front door- or they come and stand by the kitchen window. This is my cue to get their grain and everyone follows me to their night time pen where they get supper and fresh water. I go back out between 9 & 10 pm to shut them in their "duck house" for the night.

 

[Evelle]

Quote:
yours fly??????

THATS SOOO COOL!! what kind do ya have?
hahaha never mind im a tard

(just look duh)

Yep, the little buggars fly. It's a beautiful sight to see. The take off in the morning and circle around the property and partially down the road about 3 times and come back and then land on the aviary or the house. They do this several times a day.

THAT WOULD BE SOOO AWSOME!! hahaha the closes mine come to flying is flapping there wings

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Yep, the little buggars fly. It's a beautiful sight to see. The take off in the morning and circle around the property and partially down the road about 3 times and come back and then land on the aviary or the house. They do this several times a day.

THAT WOULD BE SOOO AWSOME!! hahaha the closes mine come to flying is flapping there wings

As they get older and they start flapping their wings, that means that are "practicing" to join the ranks of the flyer and it will soon be take off time around the property. They look so funny practicing.

 

[DB_Tex]

I bought a chain link dog run from lowes for 300$ and connected it to a 7 foot fence I had already standing to form one wall and thus expand the run. They have a dust floor now but I'm covering it with straw (makes great garden mulch like that) and I re purposed an old trampoline as a shade over one wall and across 75% of the top of the run. The holes in the weave of the trampoline keep it from catching air and acting like a kite as a tarp would, but it still throws a lot of shade. I have a tray on the ground as a feeder, and a small pool as a water dish. They have a couple little "huts" I made out of big tree pots but when the straw comes home I'll build a house for them out of straw bales as well. This arrangement comfortably houses 25 birds at night. If I needed more predator protection or if I needed to contain flying birds I have the option or lashing hardware cloth/chicken wire to the open roof.

They go in after sunset for dinner because they know that is where the food will be. (If I'm running late they beat me there, I leave the door open during the day.) During the day they have free reign in my 2 acre back yard and usually my garden but I am fencing them out for fall so I can grow some lettuce unmolested.

I also have sort of a "duck tractor" that is really only a PVC pipe frame with hardware cloth lashed around it with zip ties. It has an open top and I lay boards or more wire across the top for shade/bird of prey protection (also when I started using those tree pots as huts). Works great for getting babies outside and out of the brooder during the day, grazing birds in the unfenced front yard, or as an isolation pen. At least it did until the horse escaped and tore all the walls out so he could steal the duck food.

I gotta buy a whole new roll of small mesh boxwire to fix it, but I figured if I used sturdier stuff this time I could use it for rabbits or something too. I don't own rabbits, but it's always good to have options, right?