I’ve decided to get Runner ducks any advice for me?

[DuckyDonna]

Sorry! I just noticed your reply now. Yes; you’re right I should make it at least my height. Great tips. I noticed Hardware cloth is kind of expensive at Lowe’s/Home Depot; where did you get yours? I find it strange how much the prices vary for different types of wire fencing. I love the idea of having a small chair in their run for me to hang out with them. We plan to attach the run to our exsisting vinyl fencing that’s almost 5.5 ft tall- we don’t have a fenced in yard just one side of privacy fencing. We’ll put 1/2” hardware cloth on the bottom of the vinyl fence for safety. Do you think the coop should be inside the run or just attached with the door opening inside of it? I think it will give them more space and may make cleaning easier if it’s not behind the gate lol I plan to put a metal roof on it and make the whole side of the coop open up for easy cleaning but if it’s inside the run maybe it’ll be too tight for me to clean it out easily. Lol. Also do you think a partial metal roof on one corner of the run is good enough?- I still want them to have sunlight and will put wire on top for protection. Will the sound of rain hitting the metal roof terrify them on their coop or run? I’m literally thinking of everything that can possibly go wrong lol. I haven’t decided if I should get two or three ducklings for my space. Since I plan on spending a bunch of time with them I don’t think I need 3 or 4 because they won’t be alone that much (I work from home) and maybe if I only have two it’ll be better for them and me. I could make them an 8 ft long x 5 ft wide run and a 4ft tall 3x3 coop. Do you think that’s big enough for 2 or 3 ducks? Less ducks means less worry about space for them. That’s my biggest concern (as I’m sure you noticed). I’m not 100% confident in my coop/run plans yet of course! I’d just like your take on it. As for the warmth I plan on brooding them inside (up until around 6wks old) I have a bedroom they can stay in safely away from my dog. I have a 4x4’ 2.5 ft tall puppy play pen for them to be in once they get too large for the brooder but not feathered enough to be outside. I think I’ll wait until mid March or April for sure just so we have time to build their set up. Yes I could see hatching eggs to be so beautiful and so stressful at the same time! I wish I knew someone with an incubator I could borrow and someone able to take the male ducks if I ended up getting any lol. If I went that route I’d probably get at least 5 eggs. So much to think about. You’ve been so helpful to me, thank you!

I've got to go to bed now but can you send me a picture of the yard and can you do a markup of your plans? I'm having trouble visualizing it but I sure do think you could incorporate that existing fence into your plan! That will save a lot of trouble!

Oh, one more thing before I go to nite nite. If I were you I'd get 3 ducks and the reason is kinda depressing but what if you had 2 and something happened to one of them. You'd be left with 1 lonely duck!

 

[IsabellaMarilyn]

I've got to go to bed now but can you send me a picture of the yard and can you do a markup of your plans? I'm having trouble visualizing it but I sure do think you could incorporate that existing fence into your plan! That will save a lot of trouble!

Oh, one more thing before I go to nite nite. If I were you I'd get 3 ducks and the reason is kinda depressing but what if you had 2 and something happened to one of them. You'd be left with 1 lonely duck!

I’m having a hard time visualizing it too lol. The area where it’s going to be is a mess right now and with the crappy weather and with my
man being so busy he hasn’t had the time to clean up and organize his scrap wood and tools he’s a contracter and jack of all trades- busy busy! We still need to put up a couple more panels of the vinyl fence and add dirt/level the ground where the ducks will be. We had put sod down last summer and my dogs acid urine made patches everywhere and now it’s a mud pit with holy grass lol. The picture shows some of the metal we’ll be using for the coop roof and partial roof for the run. The big building/barn behind us isn’t ours. The shed that you can barely see to the left (where the white stones are) is jam packed with tools etc. He has other outdoor cabinets for his stuff and there still isn’t enough room lol. The yard isn’t too much larger than the photo- try to imagine the same amount of space behind where I stood to take the picture and that’s it.
As for the three duck suggestion: I was thinking the same thing especially because I’ll be ordering from an online hatchery; I’ve definitely considered that. I may have to order three to be on the safe side; it will be heartbreaking to get a dead or dying duckling! Have a good night, thanks again.

 

[Duckworth]

First, be sure that your local ordinances allow you to have the number of ducks you are planning to get and that the location where you plan to put them is allowed, too. It’s hard to not have them noticed if you don’t have a fenced yard and having to relocate or redesign your house and run can be expensive, not to mention time-consuming. Our city doesn’t allow poultry or waterfowl to be housed within five feet of our property line and limits the number we can have. There are also rules about the size of the house/run and the type of flooring surface. If you haven’t already checked the local regulations, that’s a wise first step.

I strongly recommend making your run tall enough for you to work easily in, including any rakes or other implements you expect to use for routine maintenance. If you intend to store their feed and/or bedding in or near the house/run, be sure to include dry storage for them. I have a tarp over the roof of my run to keep things relatively dry and an old potting bench in one corner on which I store my feed bins. The ducks can go underneath it and I put a tarp over the table so that three sides hang down to the ground to act as a windbreak and shield from water and I usually store a bale of straw blocking most of the fourth side. The ducks go in there to have shelter from wind and rain as an alternative to going into their house. I also throw a tarp,over the feed bins because even though they are waterproof, it’s easier to avoid water dripping in while I am getting feed out of the bins if they have been under the tarp.

I use a deep litter method and straw as my bedding. My house opens into the run, but isn’t in the run. The back of my house is all doors for easy clean out. My run is 8x8’ and my house is 4x4’ and is four inches higher than my run so that water cannot drain from the run into the house. The 4x4’ corner formed by the house and run are where I store my straw bales, covered by another tarp. I put a wood roof on my house and caulked it, then put tar paper and a few spare shingles on it. Because it gets very cold here, I did a double floor with foam insulation between and double walls with the same insulation. The upper half of the walls are hardware cloth windows for lots of ventilation, but in winter, I put tarps over the windward sides and leave the other windows open for plenty of air exchange and to allow excess moisture to leave. Excess moisture can bring on frostbite. I put no water or food inside the house.

I use sweet pdz during warm weather to help control odor and moisture and I hang a baited jar-type fly trap on the side of the pen to trap flies. I have two traps and as one gets half full, I bait and hang the other one so that by the time the one gets full, the other one is starting to attract flies. I also hang fly sticky strips in the corners of my run to catch any gnats that don’t go to the fly trap.

This is my house/run when it was newly built, before I covered the roof and before I learned not to put water in the house. Our city code required the solid surface floors. I used cedar fence slats for the exterior siding, but painted it. The inside of the house is all exterior grade plywood and is also painted. I put peel and stick vinyl tile on the house floor, though that may have been overkill. Use fender washers and screws to attach hardware cloth. My house and run floors are slightly sloped for good drainage. I have since switched from pine shavings to straw and I use mine for compost and to mulch my vegetable garden. I also added a grate over the side cleanout door and wrapped the bottom two feet of the run with welded wire fencing mounted about two inches out from the HWC to deter my dogs from taking too much interest in my ducks.

Speaking of drainage, you might consider while you are trenching to bury your HWC in the ground, digging out a larger area of your run and replacing the dirt with sand or pea gravel upon which you can put your bedding material. You can install a drainage pipe with a screen fine enough to keep your substrate in the run to help direct the water where you want it to go.

 

[IsabellaMarilyn]

First, be sure that your local ordinances allow you to have the number of ducks you are planning to get and that the location where you plan to put them is allowed, too. It’s hard to not have them noticed if you don’t have a fenced yard and having to relocate or redesign your house and run can be expensive, not to mention time-consuming. Our city doesn’t allow poultry or waterfowl to be housed within five feet of our property line and limits the number we can have. There are also rules about the size of the house/run and the type of flooring surface. If you haven’t already checked the local regulations, that’s a wise first step.

I strongly recommend making your run tall enough for you to work easily in, including any rakes or other implements you expect to use for routine maintenance. If you intend to store their feed and/or bedding in or near the house/run, be sure to include dry storage for them. I have a tarp over the roof of my run to keep things relatively dry and an old potting bench in one corner on which I store my feed bins. The ducks can go underneath it and I put a tarp over the table so that three sides hang down to the ground to act as a windbreak and shield from water and I usually store a bale of straw blocking most of the fourth side. The ducks go in there to have shelter from wind and rain as an alternative to going into their house. I also throw a tarp,over the feed bins because even though they are waterproof, it’s easier to avoid water dripping in while I am getting feed out of the bins if they have been under the tarp.

I use a deep litter method and straw as my bedding. My house opens into the run, but isn’t in the run. The back of my house is all doors for easy clean out. My run is 8x8’ and my house is 4x4’ and is four inches higher than my run so that water cannot drain from the run into the house. The 4x4’ corner formed by the house and run are where I store my straw bales, covered by another tarp. I put a wood roof on my house and caulked it, then put tar paper and a few spare shingles on it. Because it gets very cold here, I did a double floor with foam insulation between and double walls with the same insulation. The upper half of the walls are hardware cloth windows for lots of ventilation, but in winter, I put tarps over the windward sides and leave the other windows open for plenty of air exchange and to allow excess moisture to leave. Excess moisture can bring on frostbite. I put no water or food inside the house.

I use sweet pdz during warm weather to help control odor and moisture and I hang a baited jar-type fly trap on the side of the pen to trap flies. I have two traps and as one gets half full, I bait and hang the other one so that by the time the one gets full, the other one is starting to attract flies. I also hang fly sticky strips in the corners of my run to catch any gnats that don’t go to the fly trap.

This is my house/run when it was newly built, before I covered the roof and before I learned not to put water in the house. Our city code required the solid surface floors. I used cedar fence slats for the exterior siding, but painted it. The inside of the house is all exterior grade plywood and is also painted. I put peel and stick vinyl tile on the house floor, though that may have been overkill. Use fender washers and screws to attach hardware cloth. My house and run floors are slightly sloped for good drainage. I have since switched from pine shavings to straw and I use mine for compost and to mulch my vegetable garden. I also added a grate over the side cleanout door and wrapped the bottom two feet of the run with welded wire fencing mounted about two inches out from the HWC to deter my dogs from taking too much interest in my ducks.

Speaking of drainage, you might consider while you are trenching to bury your HWC in the ground, digging out a larger area of your run and replacing the dirt with sand or pea gravel upon which you can put your bedding material. You can install a drainage pipe with a screen fine enough to keep your substrate in the run to help direct the water where you want it to go.
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Thank you for taking the time to leave such detailed advice; it’s much appreciated. My town law is to keep livestock/coops 100ft from another residence and they only allow a small flock. I don’t plan on having more than three ducks and where their coop/run will be is further than 100ft from another home. I think your duck house is charming and I’m glad you took so much time planning and documenting what you did. That’s very helpful to people like me. What are fender washers? I plan on putting adequate amounts of 1/2” hardware cloth; I won’t be using chicken wire (I’ve read the horror stories). I have an outdoor small storage shed for their food and my cleaning supplies already. I won’t be putting water or food in their coop it will stay in their run with the water further away to decrease the chances of their food getting soaked. I plan on putting a metal roof on their coop and on a portion of their run for shade and to keep their feed dry. I’ll definitely try the sweet pdz. Have you ever used smelleze? I read about it and it seems worth a try. I’ve used fly traps before and I don’t know why but they always seem to attract more flies! Especially the liquid jugs- the ones that smell like sewage lol. Maybe I’ve just had bad luck. I may just stick with fly tape. That will be something to explore options for in the summer for sure. As for the deep litter method I think that’s what I’ll end up doing; I may try sand first. Since I have a small yard and no garden I won’t be able to use the compost so I’m lost on how I’m going to dispose of their waste. Someone mentioned to post it for free on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for someone to get who needs it. I’d like to learn more on how to prevent frost bite and how to insulate their coop and still have enough ventilation for them. Please guide me/correct me on what I’m planning if you disagree or have different suggestions! Thank you

 

[Duckworth]

Fender washers are metal disc-style washers with smaller holes that you place between your screws and the hardware cloth so that the screws actually hold the hardware cloth to your framing or uprights. Staples are not generally strong enough to withstand most predatory animals. You can see the silver-colored washers on the outside of my run in the pictures. Many washers have holes large enough that a typical screw head can be popped through them, or are too small to secure the HWC, but fender washers are both large enough and have small enough center holes that they are ideal for this use.

Predators we have here are our dogs, stray dogs, cats, hawks, owls, raccoons, opossums, foxes, and potentially snakes.

The fly traps do attract flies, but duck poo will also attract them, so I prefer to actually trap and kill them. My ducks catch anything that flies within their reach, but there are still more, so I attract and trap them rather than having their increased population (due to the duck pen) get into my house. Flies seem to be a bigger problem after a lot of rain when bedding doesn’t dry out easily and composting is disrupted. This is one of the reasons I have a tarp over my run. Otherwise, everything gets soaked. But I am required by ordinance to have a solid surface floor, so this may not be a problem for you.

Sweet PDZ is what is available at my local feed store. I haven’t ever seen Smelleze before, but will look out for it.

 

[IsabellaMarilyn]

Fender washers are metal disc-style washers with smaller holes that you place between your screws and the hardware cloth so that the screws actually hold the hardware cloth to your framing or uprights. Staples are not generally strong enough to withstand most predatory animals. You can see the silver-colored washers on the outside of my run in the pictures. Many washers have holes large enough that a typical screw head can be popped through them, or are too small to secure the HWC, but fender washers are both large enough and have small enough center holes that they are ideal for this use.

Predators we have here are our dogs, stray dogs, cats, hawks, owls, raccoons, opossums, foxes, and potentially snakes.

The fly traps do attract flies, but duck poo will also attract them, so I prefer to actually trap and kill them. My ducks catch anything that flies within their reach, but there are still more, so I attract and trap them rather than having their increased population (due to the duck pen) get into my house. Flies seem to be a bigger problem after a lot of rain when bedding doesn’t dry out easily and composting is disrupted. This is one of the reasons I have a tarp over my run. Otherwise, everything gets soaked. But I am required by ordinance to have a solid surface floor, so this may not be a problem for you.

Sweet PDZ is what is available at my local feed store. I haven’t ever seen Smelleze before, but will look out for it.

Thank you for explaining the fender washers. I think I should have a tarp for them as well now (good point) at least for temporary use when I know it’ll rain and snow a decent amount (I guess I’ll use zip ties to fasten it as to not make it permanent) I want them to have enough sun when possible. Smelleze is sold online only I think; you can see reviews on YouTube and their website explains everything. I think it works best when the ground is dry because it’s mainly used for chicken coops. Worth a try though. Oh I understand that flies will come with the smell of their poop and feed etc I will have to find something other than that nasty liquid though. As for predators, cats will be number one near me! I’ve seen a few owls and groundhogs. Im sure I’ll see more critters once the ducks arrive but hopefully my set up will be safe enough to keep them out! We’ll sure do the best we can with what I’ve learned. Thanks again!

 

[Duckworth]

I use zip ties to secure my tarps, too. I do have hardware cloth over the roof of my run, under the tarp. It helps support the weight of the snow and rain and some of our predators can be quite determined. Our neighbor two houses down lost all of their chickens one night to a fox. But they had pretty lax security for their birds. Now, they close them up more securely at night. We have our own dogs, both of which have very strong small prey instincts, and a lot of neighborhood cats, not to mention other non-domesticated predators. Hawks are a big concern during the day. Owls are more trouble at night. I zip tie the tarps on the windward sides of my run, too, for the winter, since wind is a much bigger issue for ducks than cold temperatures are. We get to -12F here and have had no ducks with frostbite, since they have shelter from the wind and plenty of ventilation.

 

[IsabellaMarilyn]

I use zip ties to secure my tarps, too. I do have hardware cloth over the roof of my run, under the tarp. It helps support the weight of the snow and rain and some of our predators can be quite determined. Our neighbor two houses down lost all of their chickens one night to a fox. But they had pretty lax security for their birds. Now, they close them up more securely at night. We have our own dogs, both of which have very strong small prey instincts, and a lot of neighborhood cats, not to mention other non-domesticated predators. Hawks are a big concern during the day. Owls are more trouble at night. I zip tie the tarps on the windward sides of my run, too, for the winter, since wind is a much bigger issue for ducks than cold temperatures are. We get to -12F here and have had no ducks with frostbite, since they have shelter from the wind and plenty of ventilation.

I’ll be using hardware cloth on the top of their run and locking them in their coop at night for protection. Maybe I’ll keep a tarp up for the winter and not for summer. Could you send pictures of your tarp set up to block the wind? I know location would differ where it’d need to be. I hope I can insulate their coop properly. Do you think the coop should be in the run or just the door itself going into the run and the actual structure out of it? I want one side of the coop to open like a door for easier cleaning and it may be too tight to do that in the run itself- plus the more narrow tight spots would be harder to clean and probably an awkward waste of space. Thanks!

 

[DuckyDonna]

Good morning! @Duckworth has given you some great ideas!

I know you're wondering why you have to worry about frostbite in the pen. When ducks breath the let off a ton of moisture so even in the dead of winter when it's below 0° if you don't have really good ventilation it will cause moisture to build up in their pen to the point that they get their little legs and feet frostbitten.

When I saw the picture and the big barn I got excited! I do think I see a piece of that white vinyl fence that will probably go to your property line? It looks to me that you've got plenty of room for 3 ducks in that area so I wouldn't worry about that. The people I got my first 4 ducks from had a ton of ducks in a space much smaller than what you've got. Maybe you could attach your duck pen to that existing shed and use the side of it as one of the walls of your pen? Since your man is in construction I'll sure he'll figure it out. 2 sides of both of my pens were sides of the barn which made it simple to construct. My husband was talking about building a 3rd pen between my 2 exisiting ones which would basically just mean putting a floor and top on it because he'd use the sides of the 2 pens I've already got.

 

[Runner duck mom]

So I

Oh and I can't wait to get some of your eggs!

Spring can't come soon enough this year. The girls are still laying, I guess they aren't taking a break this winter.I am excited and will have as many as you'd like ready and waiting