I want happy ducks but I want to be responsible... thoughts?

I think the OP was asking if it's fine to leave the puppy crate OPEN at night so the ducks could be in the totally insecure run. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but that seems a tad different than leaving them locked in the crate at night.
I suppose it'll work fine until it doesn't. When it doesn't work, the birds die.
In that case, that is a very ill advised idea.
 
All of my birds have been eaten in broad daylight.
Frequently with humans watching.

You gotta know your predators for your area.
It's maddening to have a Fort Knox quality animal castle for your fluffy friends at night, yet it's always the daytime when the monsters decide to waltz into the dining hall.
This is so true for me. They come at noon for the duck buffet. I almost had my hands on a Bobcat pulled it off a duck, had a coyote take one just feet from me and a hawk dine basically on my front porch.
 
It'll be a really nice act of kindness when I manage to put a bullet through the fox ;)


OP, I use a chain link Kennel and I frequently use both a plastic or wire metal crate.
Ducklings small enough to be carried away by an owl (we will be adding a solid roof before winter) get locked in kennels overnight if they aren't brought inside. This is only after I super fortified my run.
My first loss happened THROUGH the chain link. As in, there was no damages to the fence but it was a very hard lesson for my poor kids to wake up to. I wanted to barf a little, and I was an EMT.
I fortified the bottom 2' of my chain link by attaching hardware cloth/galvanized steel fencing pieces with a 1/2" or less opening. Much of my run is buried several inches deep, which many will say is not enough and I recommend being wary of digging predators. Unfortunately, many predators can go OVER 6' chain link as well, another consideration.
This is why you gotta know your predators in the area. What are you really trying to protect against and how much money can you truly dish out to do so?
My ducks do have a solid wood house they can go into, but it's not appropriate for locking them into all night. These creatures like to be awake and move about in the dark, I feel wrong to lock them in that way. I HATE locking my animals up during the day even in the kennel runs (I have several put together) but the fox comes once a week at least in broad daylight so...
 
I agree that you have to know your predators (my losses have been to mink, who don't have the decency to at least eat their kill), and that ducks like to move around at night.

My nine runners spend the night in a modified 3 by 10 foot chicken tractor. It is basically a big box made of 2-by-4's, originally covered in chicken wire, now wrapped like a Christmas present in hardware cloth. There is metal roofing on half of the top and both a top and side door. The ducks can easily move around at night (in fact, it sounds like there is a good amount of "dating" going on in the dark) but I sleep better knowing they are safe.

We all have to just try our best and hope it works!
 
I all depends on what predators there are in your area. If you live in an area where bobcats and coyotes are common forget about electric fencing, just ask @Magnolia Ducks
You have plenty of birds of prey? You need netting on top of the run - unless there is a large flock of crows in your trees that harass them away (this is what i have here). But then your ducklings need protection from the crows again.
The worst case predators are minks and weasels: They can slip through the tiniest cracks into the duck-house at night and cause a massacre. And there is a tiny crack in your duck house that you have not found yet!
Get to know you the predators in your area, observe, get a trail-camera and talk to the neighbors - you already did good. Then make your decisions.
My ducks are being locked up over night, a trash-panda robbed a duck in front of my eyes and those ripped open and destroyed whole bags of duck-food. I have seen a fox, kicked an opossum out of the duck-house and my wife spotted a pair of coyotes, a day before our drake went missing.
Still during the day they are all running around in the fenced area around the house, no netting above (we have the crow-crowd!) and the fences are more of a recommendation to the ducks not to walk further away…
If you don't want to lock up your ducks i a prison (they would not be happy!), there is no absolute safety from predators. That's the way nature works.
 
These posts are very helpful, thank you. I think I will continue to lock them up but I think I need something larger for them because I’m adding 3 new ducklings. They will be living in my garage until they are bigger but eventually they will move in with the others and my kennel is too small for 5.
 
I have a dog kennel (10x20x6) set up half on land/half on our pond. The duck house is inside the kennel. Part of the kennel in the water has settled all the way to the bottom (maybe a foot deep). We do not lock the ducks in their house at night. I wouldn't know how to get them into the house to do so as they get as far from us as possible (into the pond area) when we approach or go in to put food in their house. I live on 55 mostly wooded acres with a pond that is an acre and a half. We have bobcat, raccoons, bears, snakes, coyotes, etc. We even had a snapping turtle once. On only one occasion did we hear a ruckus in the night but they were all fine. We have four ducks. I hope this helps.
 
You have it tough in America. That is a LOT of predators.
Yes. The Rewilding of America program has been very successful. When I started raising chickens over 50 years ago in Western NC, there wasn't nearly the amount of predators that are evident today. The first chicken lot I ever had was 50' x 50', made with 2" poultry netting with no cover and I used saplings to hold the sides (6') up... and I never lost one single bird to predators. If I had that same lot now, all the chickens would be dead in a day's time.
 

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