Housing Ducks?

[Scottyhorse]

For ducklings, they need water and food 24/7. I keep it that way with my adults. It is okay for ducks ten weeks old or so to go without food for about eight hours (up to ten hours, according to Storey's Guide).

Wherever the drinking water is, the ducks will splash it. It's what they are good at. And wet bedding causes problems for everyone.

As far as the hardware cloth goes, I use the half inch metal stuff, because nothing around here can reach or squeeze through it. According to unitedwildlife.com, to keep weasels out:


Damage Prevention and Control Methods
Exclusion
Block all entrances 1 inch (2.5 cm) or larger with 1/2-inch (1.3-cm) hail screen or similar materials.

I was reading through Storey's Guide, and it has so much helpful information! I am thinking of buying some gro gel for them to eat along with starter crumbles, because when I order them, it'll probably be a little cold, so I can get their strength up.

The goats seem really great at tipping their bucket over, so I just put it where the bedding is, not sure how I will do that with ducks though.....

Here, there is no weasles that we know of, but there are badgers, two owls, a hawk, and coyotes. Se, we could probably have larger wire... We'll see though! How high is your duck house off the ground?

 

[Amiga]

The original duck house is about six inches above ground.

 

[Scottyhorse]

I like your duck house! So I will shoot for 6 inches or so. Do they just jump up there, or do they need a ramp?

 

[Haunted55]

I would go 25 sf for the run, that is what Storey's Guide recommends if the ducks don't have access to pasture during the day, so I would err on the side of roominess.

Hillside is okay if not too steep. What is the slope?

Text is an awful way to communicate, so please know my next question is meant kindly and gently. When you wrote "green roll out stuff," were you talking plastic? My answer to that is an emphatic NO.

You may not think you have predators now. They will hear and smell the ducks, and they will come for them. I am very sensitive about this topic so bear with me. Take a look at this https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-it-is-and-what-it-is-not-duck-security-issue

We get some severe weather here, too, and a larger coop will not make it warmer. I built a double-walled, insulated shelter with over a foot of bedding and it was not warm enough for my runners. They are now in a walkout basement pen where it gets no colder than 40F. Each flock is different. Since you only plan on three, you will need to watch carefully. Thermometers, especially min-max thermometers, are a great tool for managing the flock. It will track how cold the inside of the shelter gets at night and you can gauge the ducks' reactions. There is a difference, too, between surviving and thriving.

If you make a shelter that is about four feet tall you can put up to two feet of dry bedding in it and that will help a great deal. Either double-walled with something like perlite or vermiculite for insulation (it cannot mold or catch fire), and that will be pretty cozy. Something that needs to be balanced with housing is insulation and ventilation. Ducks need a well ventilated space, or you will have potentially fatal problems with mold and moisture. Ducks can get pneumonia.

They are also sensitive to ammonia, so minding the bedding is important. I have a porch area so that water is not in the shelter. That keeps the bedding dry. Sweet PDZ or dry peat moss can help prevent ammonia formation, as keeping the bedding fluffed.

Fence height of three feet is fine for those ducks. But a secure area will have fence across the top. So the next question is, what fence height will be comfortable for you to do the pen cleaning? Mine is about a meter - just over three feet. But I am short and flexible. I did make a hatch door so that I can stand up and reach most of the pen area from that spot.

Foxes jump, raccoons and other animals climb.

Our Day Pen is 10'x16', with coated chain link all across the bottom, secured between to 6 inch wide boards around the perimeter of the fence. The sides are 2"x3" coated wire, with a strip of 2 ft tall coated 1" chicken wire along the sides. The top is covered with the 2"x3" coated wire also. The night shelter we used at first had half inch hardware cloth over every opening, top bottom and sides, what is not plywood or lumber is hardware cloth. All doors and gates have keyed locks. I have two strands of equine electric fence around the night shelter.

Amiga has this issue with predators and ducks absolutely right. This is my first year with ducks and I have never seen so many hawks, owls and ravens as I have this year. I have been vigilant and very lucky not to have lost any of my mallards. I run a 4 wire electric fence with a 50 mile charger around my duck and goose house and 100' welded wire pen and have had a couple of young coyotes try to get through it. As Amiga has pointed out, your eyes and ears are going to be your best line of defence but everything you can do to provide your birds with protection is going to give you more time to get to them in the case of attacks.

Something that can be done if you want water in the house is put in a coated hardware cloth over an open area in the floor. It does help keep a lot of the water out of the bedding, but not all. Or you could use the plastic base pans they have for hot water heaters. These have a hole in them for a drain hose and can be put under their water dish and piped outside so you never have more than a 1/4" of water in the pan. If you are going to be putting your house up 6" off the ground this might work better than the opening for you. Just some thoughts as Amiga covered everything else so very well!

 

[Amiga]

I like your duck house! So I will shoot for 6 inches or so. Do they just jump up there, or do they need a ramp?

I built a little ramp for them, plywood reinforced with 2"x4"s underneath, and wrapped in plastic poultry fence for traction.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Thank you guys so much for all the help!! I really appreciate it. Hopefully I will be able to get some ducklings soon. When time come to build a pen and run, I will definantly take your opinions and ideas along!!

If anyone has any extra tips, please let me know!