Housing advice for a duck newbie

[RMo2]

I have been searching for duck coops and housing options. Aside from constant access to water, and other special considerations compared to a chicken coop?? I live in an area with a lot of predators and would like to lock the ducks in at night like I do with our hens.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

Here are our ducklings :

 

[Joshua G]

They don't NEED water but they are happier with it.

 

[Amiga]

I have a watering station so my ducks always have access to water. Technically, they do okay for 8 to 10 hours overnight without, but especially in hot weather . . . .

Unless they're Muscovies, no perches needed. Mine don't use nest boxes, but they like corners. So I attached some 2'x2' plywood perpendicular to the wall in a couple of places.

A way to separate out one or two ducks short term in case of brooding, conflict, illness or injury is a great thing.

Half inch metal hardware cloth over all openings. Allows for ventilation - very important - but keeps predators out.

Equine electric fence tape is easy to use, and two strands helped us a lot, kept raccoons at more of a distance.

 

[RMo2]

Thank you so much! I appreciate the insight!

 

[RacerWife7]

When mine were ducklings, we kept them in this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chicken-Coo...474?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item485ab8eeaa


I have 3. And, trust me... it didn't take long before they had outgrown this structure. So, my hubby took apart the back side of the screen and built a much larger pen attached to it. It's large enough to have a small pond inside the enclosure and is covered on the top with screening. They are closed inside the house every night and we have a heat lamp in there for our cold NJ winters. I think it works well for them. And it wasn't 100% built from scratch. It has, sort of, grown with them. ...I have 2 Swedish Blues and 1 Mallard.

Making the whole structure yourself is probably sturdier. But, I wanted to give you another option.

 

[Joshua G]

They don't NEED water but they are happier with it.

By this I mean they don't need a pond.

 

[TLWR]

My duck house is set up to have water in it 24/7. Not necessary in the winter, but I'm not comfortable having them closed up without water during the hot summer nights. I just cut an area out of the floor and covered with hardware cloth. It also helps with daily hose out.

 

[RMo2]

Thank you for the tips! I appreciate it!

 

[Carrosaur]

Some of my friends bought a dog house that was meant for medium sized dogs and built a pen around it, the ducks loved it!

 

[Richb353]

I finished this house this past weekend. I have two Cayugas now, but have 20+ more (10 Cayugas, 10 Welsh Harlequin) arriving this week from Metzer Farms. Most of the material I bought from Lowe's; 1 3/8" x 10' fenceposts for the frame, 1/2" in galvanized netting around the sides with 1' poultry netting above in the "triangles". The roof is green Ondura panels 6' x 4', the panels on the corners lift up for access inside. I figure 100 sq. feet divided by two dozen ducks gives them about 4' per duck. They have a larger pasture to wander during the day, but it's not too small to leave them in for a day of two if I'm out of town. Total it ran me about $600.

Here in Florida I was more concerned about the sun than the cold, so I needed shade and breeze more than anything else. There are a few trees planted nearby, but it will be a few years before they give any significant shade.