Just 6 weeks til my ducklings arrive....lend me your wisdom

[21hens-incharge]

Yes I took the plunge and ordered 6 ducklings. I ordered Silver Appleyards but after more reading am switching it to Welch.
I have kept ducks in the past but everything is different now. In the country I had 1/3rd of an acre for them. Now it will be a pen in the back yard.
It has been 20 years since I had quackers.

I want my birds to be happy even if they don't have an acre to roam.

The plan.....cut back my number of chickens and divide the pen. It is 16 by 23. I have a broody house I built for the chickens and can convert easily for ducks. I would take the run off, remove the front wall and rebuild for better duck access. It is plenty short enough to fit inside the chicken run.

The other option for a house for them would be to add a hardware cloth wall in front of a BIG droppings board under the chicken roosts. Not entirely sure I love that idea.
The chicken coop is 8x14 so the under roost area would be roughly 6x8. The broody house is only 3x4 roughly.

Which would you do??? Maybe both?

I know I will be having to put them in at night.....I recall my others preferred sleeping in the open.

Pond...pool....water to play in.....

What I am thinking....
Preformed pond or stock tank for sheep dropped into a small deck with gravel under the deck and a drain put into the pond/tank.

What do others do that works well for cleaning?

My hubs is adamant that ducks are disgusting. My others were not but then they had a huge pen.....

I expect I will end up with at least 2 drakes. I only plan to keep one if any at all. That means my maximum number would be 5 ducks.


Oh a third option......reduce chicken numbers, merge flocks and put ducks in the 6x8 walk in coop....but that run is only 8x8.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Did you ordered straight run ducklings? - You will end up with at least ½ of them being drakes! In most hatcheries "straight run" means the left-over ducklings after all sexed orders have been fulfilled and most customers order ducks…
Pool: You can use almost anything, if it has a drain at the bottom and the water drains into a place where the ducks have no access. Duck-Math otherwise:
Water + Soil + Ducks = Mud puddle + Dirty Ducks + Upset DH
Ducks love to sleep out in the open, so you will have to herd them back into their house in the evening and i wouldn't let them share a house with the chickens. Ducks sleep on the ground, chickens roost, so the ducks may be pooped on. Also pointed chicken bills as as incompatible to ducks as the drake's corkscrew is to the chickens. -> If you can't offer them a lot of space to roam, i would keep them separated to avoid brawls and injuries.

 

[PirateGirl]

I had installed a 1.5 inch ball valve to drain the duck pool. It get's pretty clogged up pretty quick and I usually end up having to bail/dump the water. Have a backup plan for drain clogs, or at least make sure you have easy access to the drain to try and unclog it.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Did you ordered straight run ducklings? - You will end up with at least ½ of them being drakes! In most hatcheries "straight run" means the left-over ducklings after all sexed orders have been fulfilled and most customers order ducks…
Pool: You can use almost anything, if it has a drain at the bottom and the water drains into a place where the ducks have no access. Duck-Math otherwise:
Water + Soil + Ducks = Mud puddle + Dirty Ducks + Upset DH
Ducks love to sleep out in the open, so you will have to herd them back into their house in the evening and i wouldn't let them share a house with the chickens. Ducks sleep on the ground, chickens roost, so the ducks may be pooped on. Also pointed chicken bills as as incompatible to ducks as the drake's corkscrew is to the chickens. -> If you can't offer them a lot of space to roam, i would keep them separated to avoid brawls and injuries.

I plan on full segregation from the chickens. I love my chickens and don't want any drownings. I know I will love the new quackers too and an injury there would be unforgivable.

If I housed them under the chicken roosts it would most certainly be a separate space with zero chicken access. I would have to build a big droppings board so no chicken poo gets into the duck zone. I still don't like that idea even though it would be the easiest to build......Mostly worried that the tiny broody house is to small.

Yes they are straight run. It was take my chances ordering through the feed store from a hatchery that does not sell sexed ducks or pay out the nose elsewhere.


Draining the pool.....I have a dry ditch behind my property that is SUPER DRY as in no water ever. The slope would absorb well.....not ideal. My plan is to use the fouled water on my shrubs that always need a boost. I have 16 large lilacs and several others that I could use that water on as well as all my flowers and the garden.
I know that means hauling buckets everywhere. Hey I could use the exercise anyway.

So.....no chicken/duck cohabitation. √
A way to drain a pool for the quackers that does not equal a mud puddle....working on that...
Drakes and chicken hens is a definite no go. Yup not doing that combo EVER.
Herding ducks into shelter every night. √ I am ok doing that.

I had installed a 1.5 inch ball valve to drain the duck pool. It get's pretty clogged up pretty quick and I usually end up having to bail/dump the water. Have a backup plan for drain clogs, or at least make sure you have easy access to the drain to try and unclog it.

Good to know that the ball valves even big can clog badly.

Gotta make sure I have good access to drain the pond/pool.

I like this pond but.......the drain thing....I will have to see the pond in person before I decide.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/MacCourt-7...MI-9zDq5P85wIVFarsCh0ozgfgEAQYBiABEgIrLvD_BwE
I would build the ground up around the pond instead of burying it so there is at least that opportunity to get the drain access figured out.

 

[PirateGirl]

I also choose to house my chickens and ducks separately, however, given more space they mostly do ok out and about together. They are excited by being out and all the things they find. They are prone to fights near the water (males and females).

You will need to herd them in at night, initially, but they will learn the routine. Mine all run in the duck house if they see me coming and it's already dark out, these days I can just lock the door behind them. Before dark is a different story.

 

[21hens-incharge]

My anti-duck hubs was home for lunch.
He is less anti-duck today.

So the plan now......and it won't be easy.....

Reduce chicken flock so they can comfortably live in the 6x8 coop.
That will be the hard part. I currently have 28 chickens. That is WAY to many for the small coop. Many are older so certainly won't sell.
Divide the big coop as I am in desperate need of some storage space.
Ducks will have 1/2 the big house and the entire 16x23 run.

He said to get whatever pool/stock tank/pond I want for the quackers as long as it will fit in the run. We both agree at least that ducks need room to swim.

So all I need to figure out is the draining/cleanout set up.

 

[CSAchook]

My anti-duck hubs was home for lunch.
He is less anti-duck today.

So the plan now......and it won't be easy.....

Reduce chicken flock so they can comfortably live in the 6x8 coop.
That will be the hard part. I currently have 28 chickens. That is WAY to many for the small coop. Many are older so certainly won't sell.
Divide the big coop as I am in desperate need of some storage space.
Ducks will have 1/2 the big house and the entire 16x23 run.

He said to get whatever pool/stock tank/pond I want for the quackers as long as it will fit in the run. We both agree at least that ducks need room to swim.

So all I need to figure out is the draining/cleanout set up.

Not a duck expert obviously but for water I would also check around on craigslist for repurposeable items like a bathtub, jacuzzi etc. Those often go up for free in my area and the savings could maybe be put into a pump or filter....or more ducks

 

[21hens-incharge]

I cancelled my ducks through the feed store and ordered sexed ducklings.

I asked hubs if he wanted me to look for a free or cheap alternative item for a pond. He said no, do it once and do it how you want to keep it.

Ok so we are a go!

 

[CSAchook]

I cancelled my ducks through the feed store and ordered sexed ducklings.

I asked hubs if he wanted me to look for a free or cheap alternative item for a pond. He said no, do it once and do it how you want to keep it.

Ok so we are a go!

Still getting appleyards or something else?

 

[Beaglegal]

Okay for ponds, my thoughts are the easier to clean the better. I am currently using those cement mixing things from Home Depot because they are easy for me to dump by myself. Then a spray with a hose and a quick refill. The less of a hassle the better. It can fit up to 4 ducks at one time.

I did get a free claw foot tub off Craig’s list I will be turning into a pond this year but my expectations are low and I’m gonna keep the cement tubs too, because they work so well