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

[Magnolia Ducks]

You have it tough in America. That is a LOT of predators.

not to mention the family of raccoons that got in my I thought secure coop and murdered 4 ducks and left my poor goose covered in duck blood. I have had it worse than most. They are building a big highway close to here and destroying many square miles of natural habitat. That is stressing the predators and pushing them my way.

 

[bluemerle]

If you're in America, you have plenty of predators.

However, predator pressure does vary by area. Hunting increases livestock losses, so if you're in an area where the wildlife are left to themselves, you may not have issues with them breaking into your pens, predator-proof or not. If you're in an area that uses nonlethal control to "train" predators to leave fences alone (i.e coyote rollers, electric fences) then that may also contribute to a safer environment. If you're in an area where plentiful prey exists, that's also less incentive to break into a chicken coop.

So: lots of variables. That's why you have some people who build Fort Knox and still have losses, while others take incredible risks (like not using hardware cloth on their pens) and suffer zero losses. It's all about the context of your local eco-system. And how desperate your predators are.

For myself: I have never had issues with raccoons - who can stick their paws through itty bitty little gaps and choke a goose or duck to death - but I still put a layer of hardware cloth between my birds and anything that might be desperate for dinner that night. This is because no loss is an acceptable one for me. I want to know my animals are safe at night, and that means forking out money for hardware cloth and making sure everyone is put in their coops at night.

 

[HeatherMo]

Too many horror stories and I don’t want to chance it soooo....I came up with this all on my own today and with stuff I already have. My husband is handy with tools and cut a hole in the back of the kennel to fit the entry to the igloo house. The ends are razor sharp so if some jerk raccoon tried to slide it’s hand through it’s going to get a nasty surprise. I’m still going to wrap the kennel in some of the wire mesh stuff for added protection. This will give Pebbles and Bam Bam and bit more space at night. When the 3 new ducks are ready to go in I will have reevaluate the space. But I think this looks pretty good for now. You think?

 

[HeatherMo]

Too many horror stories and I don’t want to chance it soooo....I came up with this all on my own today and with stuff I already have. My husband is handy with tools and cut a hole in the back of the kennel to fit the entry to the igloo house. The ends are razor sharp so if some jerk raccoon tried to slide it’s hand through it’s going to get a nasty surprise. I’m still going to wrap the kennel in some of the wire mesh stuff for added protection. This will give Pebbles and Bam Bam and bit more space at night. When the 3 new ducks are ready to go in I will have reevaluate the space. But I think this looks pretty good for now. You think?

Maybe I could find a second big igloo doghouse and have my husband do the exact same thing of one of the other walls of kennel for added space for my future 3 new duckies. I’m all about doing it on the cheap and keeping my babies safe at night

 

[Miss Lydia]

Where are the sharp as a razor edges?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Go to the thread my duck run is finally done and look what this member did.

 

[HeatherMo]

Where are the sharp as a razor edges?

Just the area where my husband cut into kennel. Poses no risk to the ducks, only to me if I’m not careful when I slid it apart for cleaning or some idiot predator that tries to make entry there but even that would be an unlikely scenario. Very little gap but someone said minks don’t need much of a gap. If they tried to get it they would receive a really deep cut to their back... or raccoon hand.

 

[HeatherMo]

Go to the thread my duck run is finally done and look what this member did.

I searched “duck run is finally done” and can’t find it

 

[21hens-incharge]

Go to the thread my duck run is finally done and look what this member did.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-duck-run-is-finally-done.1325019/

This one?

 

[Milkshakeroo]

not to mention the family of raccoons that got in my I thought secure coop and murdered 4 ducks and left my poor goose covered in duck blood. I have had it worse than most. They are building a big highway close to here and destroying many square miles of natural habitat. That is stressing the predators and pushing them my way.

I have never lost a chicken to a predator ever and don’t have a cover on the run or lock them up much at night. There are introduced foxes in Australia so I have been pretty lucky so far. I feel for you guys. America and Canada sound pretty dangerous with all the animals that will not only kill chickens but humans too.