How much shelter space per muscovy?

[conny63malies]

So the white stuff is here. And i need to make a shelter. How much sqf do i need for them? I will need it for 3 ducks and one drake.. Do you think a 4x8ft shelter is big enough for them?

 

[Hoover67]

I am wondering the same.... How many square feet per bird? I probably won't let mine (should I be able to find some!!!) free range all day. We have predators that took two chickens.....no more free ranging all day!

Michele

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

That's probably about right, maybe even overly large. I have my trios in a 4 x 4 sheltered area with a 4' x 12' run.

 

[conny63malies]

Quote:
It will be against the garage and actually the measurment will be more like 3x7.5ft. Just something to get out of the snow. I already have a 8ft panel of palruf and will use a clear panel in the front , to cut on wind and let sunlinght in. Better a bit bigger because i will have ducklings next year.

 

[Heather J]

Honestly, I've never seen my muscovies use their shelter. I have three birds and the shelter is about 2x6. It has an opening at one end (OK, so it is built kind of like a desk only with solid sides, top and front, and the bottom and back are totally open, but I pushed it against the coop so there is just enough room to go in the one end--the chickens think it's great), and is layered with straw, but they never, ever, sleep in it.

To be honest, your birds won't use it much anyway, all you need is enough room for them to get out of the weather if they want to...Now, if you plan to keep them shut in there during really awful days (and you expect a lot of those), maybe you'll want a 4x8, but unless you plan to make your flock much bigger, you probably don't need half that much space. I guess it also depends on whether you have a secure run for them too, or just the shelter. Mine sleep in the chicken run because my geese pick on them.

 

[conny63malies]

Quote:
I know they wont use much/at all. but if i dont ofer shelter and somebody deceides to call animal control and there is no shelter when they show up . You know how it goes. I made a little emergency thingy out of the palruf and surprisingly enough they are actually sitting under it. I guess mainly because i put it where they sleep anyways.
Heather they just run around in my backyard and used to sleep under the garage overhang.

 

[trulyviolet]

my old duck pen (which is now a day pen only)
is 19X9 feet
with a roofed area of about 9X9

the rest is wired and tarped

there is a small duck house under the roofed area
it's about 4 feet wide by 6 feet long also with a roof
there is a roost about a foot off the ground inside
the roost is a 2X6'' board with the 6" size flat up

i packed around the duck house with hay
and inside as well

my ducks would roost on that wooden bar when it was really cold
but they would come out during the day into the wire/tarped area

they would also BATH every day in that frigid water bucket
we had a small heater to keep it just above freezing

this housed a muscovy drake and duck

now since my original duck was killed
that pen is just a day pen

i have the three baby girls going into it in the morning and coming in at night


my drake, their father, has a temporary pen against the house
it's 4 feet wide by 6 feet long
with a sloping roof
the back 3 feet is all covered so that it's wind proof
with a pallet and plywood area raised up.....
covered with hay


the new pen is slowly slowly beiing built
that one will be 6 feet wide by 14 feet long
sectioned in half the long way.....
this is just for the winter

this pen will however have the night coop in it as i would rather them not being in the house if they don't have to be
even in the unheated basement

they don't like it
and the house crates are hard to clean.....they need to be cleaned daily

the thing i found with my muscovy......... the boys only have one thing on their minds......
but the girls really like to forage and graze and they get bored easily
the boys are content to sit there....... unless there is a girl they can jump

the girls.... they don't sit still much at all

and they follow me around constantly

trying to put up a second windblock tarp in the day pen took me two hours today with the help of three little blue eyed duckies

it would have taken 10 minutes without......
not to mention it was 20 degrees here

vi

edited to fix spelling AND to add
i take the ducks out for walks daily at least once....sometimes 3 times a day about an hour at a time
this is for them to eat bugs and get excersize..... i think birds need to beat their wings
my drake is pretty lazy not to mention a bit wild....so he doesn't go