Hello. New to ducks, (have 8 5 weeks old now) some questions :)

[dawnjoennikki98]

Hi everyone. I've been lurking for a while, and now have my own questions. I'm at work, so I'll just ask one right now. How long do you let your ducks go without food and water? Is overnight too long, if they eat and drink all day? I'm trying to keep their shed as clean and dry as possible, but don't want to starve the cuties! I'll have more questions later about making another outdoor shelter for them. I'm a single working mom, and though i'm in over my head, it's worth it, my daughter and i are just in love with our babies. (we incubated 10 and ended up with 8...4 runners, and 4 blue swedish.) They are huge!! Thanks!

Dawn

 

[Featherland]

I don't put food or water with them in their night quarters and they are just fine. I feed them about an hour before bedtime and let them drink all they want until I put them up. Mine are 10 weeks old now and I have been doing it like this since they were 3 weeks so they are used to it.

 

[Featherland]

Oh and

 

[dawnjoennikki98]

Thanks so much! I feel better now. And Thank you for the welcome!

....

Now on to more questions, lol. So, right now I have an 8 x 10 Shed that they stay in at night. I stapled a cheap sheet of linoleum over the wood floor, and pine shavings/chips covering the floor.

During part of the day right now, they are in a cheap pre made run, that is not very safe, or predator proof.

I work full time.. BUT I do have off the next four days! I'm trying to plan a large run that i'll attach to the shed.
i'd need to make a pop door too. My main confusion is what to do on the ground in the run.
I'm thinking wood framing and hardware cloth for the walls of the run. , part hardware cloth /part plastic or tin for the roof of the run. unfortunately there is not much sun at all in this area, but i can't move the shed to a sunnier part of the yard. Right now the ground is covered with ivy. I plan to clear that, and use something like pea gravel, and sand? I also want to put in a pond in the run. This is for 8 large ducks, lol, and still growing. How big should i make it? ANY advice at all would be greatly appreciated!!! thanks! (pics of duckies and shed to come soon!!)

Dawn

 

[72elizabeth]

I'm not sure of the size of the pen. Will they free range during the day? or will they be locked up all day? That's were the difference will be. I have 9 ducks and they share a pen with guineas. The pen is 8ft wide, 20ft long and 6ft high. It has 1"x1" hard cloth, nothings going thru that. I put chicken wire on the top to keep out any flying predetors and I put chicken wire (3ft wide) around the perimeter, so nothing digs under. I also electrified the bottom around the perimeter. I separated the pen with chicken wire and gave half to the guineas and half to the ducks. I put up a ridge beam and put a tarp over it (for now) to keep the sun and rain off them. I will put canvas tarps around the pen for the cool nites, I live in No. Fl. This week I am order sand for the floor. It's soft for their feet and I'll be able to use a pooper scooper for their droppings. I wouldn't add gravel. There's something called bumble bee foot. Do some research. My flock is out of the pen at 8:00am and put back at 7:30 or when it gets dark. They march right in. I got all my ideas from this site and also from International Guinea Fowl. People were very helpful. I too am by myself and 70 yrs old. MY PEN CAME OUT GREAT! I did not have anyone to help me. You can do it girl! My ducks have a kiddie pool. If you keep them in a pen all day, I would make the pen twice the size. I would make sure they had a kiddie pool in the pen too. When I put my ducks out in the pen, (they were raised in the house) I also had the kiddie pool in pen. Make sure they're able to get out, or they will drown. I kept the ducks in the pen a couple of weeks and then I introduced them to the yard. Hope this helps you.

 

[katharinad]

I have only a 4' fence with hardware cloth on the bottom. No roof either. I don't even plan on adding this because mine are lock up at night. Plus they free range in a larger area and there is no way to cover that one since it is about 1 acre. They have trees to hide under.

You ducks should have water and food at night, due to their age. You can omit the night once they are over 12 weeks of age. That is when they are fully developed and you don't have to worry about deficiencies that much any more. Mine are older and they do get water and food day and night. I fill in the morning and the evening. Eventually they run out of food in the night, but never out of water. They get only enough food so they don't get overweight. This means they will go a few hours without food. As I've said they are adult ducks. I use rubber carpet runners from Home Depot inside the duck house. They are like 12 dollars a roll. They are textured so I don't worry about slippage. On top of that I use a deep Rubbermaid storage box lid, but you can also use a 4" deep storage tub also made by Rubbermaid. I use pine shavings for the floor and clean out daily. Here is a picture:

This setup works well and does cut down on the mess they make. I only fill enough water into the waterer as they need for one night. My 9 ducks need 1/2 of a 2.75 gallon waterer. With that I have only 1-2" water left in the waterer and less food mixed in it. The deeper the water the more food they mix in.