In WNY, getting ready to build duck coop... any tips?

[USMCwifey]

We live in WNY and our little guys will be free range ducks starting this summer! We're gonna build our coops out of scraps and are trying to get friends to donate some scraps as well.

This is our first time owning ducks and we know it can get very cold here in the winter time. Is there a certain way we should build the coop? Any tips I should know? Will they need a heat source? I can't wait to start building!

 

[chickenlisa]

I'm from WNY (Jamestown) too- but living in NJ now.Where are you? Our duck pens are built the same as our chicken pens, only we don't have a big coop for the ducks. We've got a big dog house at one end (on the outside and the fencing is cut and stapled to the doorway of the doghouse....) and a big 6' long wooden packing crate on its side inside the pen. There are milk crates inside that wooden crate and they like to lay eggs in either place- and have made nests, gone broody, and hatched babies in the milk crates. All of our pens are covered with either aviary netting or wire fencing. (We also like to use free leftover materials as much as possible- so some of them are chicken wire, some welded wire, and some netting) We don't add any light or heat for the ducks and they only lay during the warmer months here.
Good Luck!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Fortunately ducks are very winter hardy. They just need some shelter and predator protection.

 

[USMCwifey]

Quote:
We're about 15 minutes from Niagara Falls, in the country though. We're gonna build our chicken coop first, since it'll be small (only 2 chicks) than we're gonna figure something out for our 6 ducklings. I'm pretty sure the chickens are gonna stay fenced in, but the ducks will be free to roam the property and swim in our pond. I just don't want the little guys to get cold.

Should I keep them fenced in during the winter or can they still roam?

 

[MissusDee]

Though it's colder where you are than where I am, I just had mine in a doghouse in a predator proof pen. They like being outside, and it would have to get mighty cold for them to mind it. The big problem I had wasn't them getting cold, but keeping the water from being frozen all the time.

 

[USMCwifey]

Quote:
I seen a thing at Tractor Supply Store, if you have a metal water feeder you set it on top and it heats it up and keeps it from freezing! We'll prob have to invest in one of those seeing as it drops in the negatives during winter. Pretty often too! Brrrr. I can't wait till we have them outside playing in the pond.

 

[chickenlisa]

Yes, the heater base does work well.We have that in our chicken coop. It's an electric heater, so as soon as the temp dips below 30 (I think) it keeps the water thawed, as long as you have it plugged in.

Also, you can buy pond de-icers that submerge into the swimming water (pond or baby pool) and will keep a small area thawed for them to swim in (again- you have to plug it in for it to work. We learned the hard way- our outlet kept tripping the circuit breaker because I cut thru the underground wiring when I dug the post holes for our last pen. We had to plug long orange ext. cords in for the de-icer to work this winter.)

 

[MissusDee]

Yeah, I had a plug in dog dish! That was more important than keeping them warm, they have to drink and wash their face!

 

[sumatra]

My geese and ducks learned to eat snow. My chickens started doing it years ago, and the lesson gets passed along. It is great not to have to mess with water all winter. I think the ducks would have spent all day playing in a water bowl and making the whole world an ice rink.

 

[toadbriar]

see if you can get stuff off craigslist

Mine did fine over winter in MA near the NH border. they have a pen with a roof over it, and shelters inside that about the size of doghouses. There is gravel on the ground for drainage and wood shavings inside the shelters. In winter I put clean dry hay to cover the gravel and ice and poop as it froze and built up. They have cement mixing pans for water, those get dumped and refilled daily. Now it's melting outside, I am putting them out to range in the daytimes. We're fencing in part of our land including a pond, so they'll only spend nights inside the pen.

We also have chicken wire lying flat against the ground and wired to the base of the pen, to keep predators from digging in. The pen is hardware cloth from the ground to 36" up, and chicken wire from there to the top.

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Oh and Mighty Taco