Getting Ducks- Need info

[Miss Lydia]

Rubber feed bowls and the heavy goat feeders from TSC because the goat feeder have metal top so they can only stick their heads into, that keeps the chickens from getting in an scratching all the feed out. If you don’t have chickens heavy rubber feed bowls would work and @DuckyDonna made feeders out of buckets.

 

[NuggetTheChicken]

Rubber feed bowls and the heavy goat feeders from TSC because the goat feeder have metal top so they can only stick their heads into, that keeps the chickens from getting in an scratching all the feed out. If you don’t have chickens heavy rubber feed bowls would work and @DuckyDonna made feeders out of buckets.

thanks

 

[DuckyDonna]

This is what I use and I love it. Easy and free with little waste.

 

[DuckyDonna]

I was given some kitty litter buckets and made feeders out of them too!

For water I just use laundry soap buckets. I don't keep any food or water in their nighttime pens. I clean them every night believe it or not. It takes ducks about 5 minutes to dirty them up.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Here is an idea for ducking waterers once they grow out of the first one.

 

[SkyeT]

Even though we have a 4'x4' pool for the ducks, we also have water stations all over our yard. The containers are typical plastic sterilite rectangles that are about 5 inches tall. High enough to get their whole head in and big enough to have water in it at the end of the day if we couldn't refill in the afternoon. There is one of those in the pen as well. I do put food in at night, it's in a heavy potted plant tray (12in) I got at the local garden store. They walk all over it and have never turned it over.

Since I live in a typical city neighborhood, we don't have issues with raccoons... they eat all the food the cat ladies put out for the strays. The raccoons are FAT. It's a wonder they can climb the fence. We, however, have coyotes, foxes, great horned owls and red tailed hawks in our neighborhood. The coyotes and foxes can climb fences. We learned that the hard way back at the end of the summer. The hawks around here attack at sunrise. Our predators are sunset to sunrise creatures. Hence, our pens closing hours.

 

[DiYMama540]

What about raccoons? They could be up and over that fence in a second! You've been so lucky!

You got that right! Luckily, in my 10 years of living in the house I'm in, I've never seen a raccon in this area. Not sure why, we've got groundhogs, skunks, possum, deer...just not raccoons in my immediate vicinity.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Were y’all in the rabid epidemic that was around about 12 yrs ago? We lost a lot of raccoons and I think they are slow to make a comeback.

 

[DiYMama540]

I don't recall anything about that, but it's possible.

 

[Miss Lydia]

It was so bad here the gov. Dropped the rabies vaccine out of helicopters in some kind of fishy packaged stuff trying to keep the rabies from going any further west.