housing requirements

[duckophile1998]

so i used to live in a rural area but my ducks kept getting eaten my bobcats and raccoons so i eventually stopped raising them.

in 2017 my home burnt down and i just recently moved out of a small trailer into a new suburban home.

i'm looking forward to raising ducks again now that i have an enclosed backyard with much less risk of predation.

the only problem is that i don't have any tools so i can't build a new coop, and premade coops are small, flimsy, and overpriced.

i was thinking about using a plastic shed that i used as storage after the fire as a duck coop. it has a total of 80 square feet. i plan on raising 2 or 3 heavy breed ducks (pekins and rouens).

i am sure that the space is plenty for a few birds, but i don't know if it will be properly insulated. where i live, it never drops below freezing, but daytime temperatures in the summer can reach up to 111°F and most of the day averages about 80°F for nine months out of the year. rainfall only happens during the winter months.

it is currently a colder winter than normal. it snowed in the bay area for the first time in over a decade. i don't know if the shed will have draft issues. would adult ducks be able to tolerate the cold int here?

 

[Duckworth]

My Welsh Harlequins hold up fine in sub-freezing temperatures all winter. We occasionally have a day with a high above freezing. I don’t have any heat to the duck house or run. I do keep plenty of dry straw in their house and I put a tarp over the windward windows to shelter them from wind, while leaving the leaward windows open for plenty of ventilation. Our summer temps are often in the mid to high nineties and the ducks are fine as long as they have shade available, breeze, and bathing water in their kiddie pool.

 

[Jpat]

Sweet good your getting new duckies!

And mine live in nova scotia without insulation and it gets to 0 degrees here, -16 in canadian temps

Their fine aslong as their dry and out of the wind

Ide be more worried about the heat in the plastic shed. Could put good vents in with hardwire screens over it. keepem safe

Ide say its enough room, But i cant visualize it, Could post a picture!

Someone here has ducks living in a kids plastic play house. its so cute

 

[DuckyDonna]

so i used to live in a rural area but my ducks kept getting eaten my bobcats and raccoons so i eventually stopped raising them.

in 2017 my home burnt down and i just recently moved out of a small trailer into a new suburban home.

i'm looking forward to raising ducks again now that i have an enclosed backyard with much less risk of predation.

the only problem is that i don't have any tools so i can't build a new coop, and premade coops are small, flimsy, and overpriced.

i was thinking about using a plastic shed that i used as storage after the fire as a duck coop. it has a total of 80 square feet. i plan on raising 2 or 3 heavy breed ducks (pekins and rouens).

i am sure that the space is plenty for a few birds, but i don't know if it will be properly insulated. where i live, it never drops below freezing, but daytime temperatures in the summer can reach up to 111°F and most of the day averages about 80°F for nine months out of the year. rainfall only happens during the winter months.

it is currently a colder winter than normal. it snowed in the bay area for the first time in over a decade. i don't know if the shed will have draft issues. would adult ducks be able to tolerate the cold int here?

Where do you live? That may help us better help you. If I was to guess I'd say somewhere where you are more worried about the heat than the cold. If you're able to take a reciprocating saw and cut ventilation windows in the plastic shed that would be great. Ducks need lots of ventilation even in the winter. You'd have to cover the windows you cut with hardware cloth somehow although that will be tough attaching it to basically just plastic. Have you ever heard of 5200 marine caulking? We used to use it on our charter fishing boat and it basically will hold anything. If you live in Florida I'll be you'd be able to find it easily especially if there is a fishing fleet near you.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Bay area? CA? i'd say heat is going to be worst culprit and your going to want to keep them up at night. so putting in a few windows covered in Hardware cloth and vents around the top to let moisture and heat out will probably work but please post pictures. Congrats on getting back to living again where you can have ducks. Very sorry about your fire and losing your home.