Hmmmm, I can't believe all the negativity about ducks! I LOVE my ducks. We moved to a farm for the first time 4 years ago. We are like Green Acres people - lived in the city all our lives, bought a farm after 20 years of marriage - learning by doing - very funny sometimes!
Anyway, I decided to get some ducks and we have been raising them everysince. We have a large fenced pen for them at night, about 24 X 60, with 24 X 12 feet of that under the barn over hang. Inside that pen, I also keep a 10 X 10 dog kennel with my flying breeds, (mandarins and white calls). There are a couple of dog houses for the ducks to go in as well as a chicken nest box thing with 10 nests in it. The ducks only use the bottom. There is no cover on the pen. We keep a llama in there at night for protection. We don't loose any ducks to predators.
During the day, our ducks roam the farm. They go into the pastures, the bull pen, the barn; anywhere they want. It is so cute to come to the barn and find them taking a nap by the hay. They follow the horses around and eat the grain they drop. They play in the mud puddles if it rains. In the evening, we carry a metal poultry feeder to thier pen and they come a running. We let them eat for a few minutes, then lock them up for the night. They have been foraging all day and really don't eat that much, most of what they ingest is free! We keep a large poulty waterer in the pen sitting up on a big rock (keeps it a little cleaner) and fill it once a day. When there are no puddles around and it's hot, we fill a kiddie pool for them too. This is their greatest pleasure!
We brood our ducklings in a 10 X 16 horse stall filled with old hay or pine shavings. From day one, they go right in there. We keep a heat lamp on in one corner, there is no need to put them in a smaller container. ( right now there are 30 ducklings in there!) We keep them in the stall till they are feathered out, about 6 weeks old, then out to the pen they go.
We have also raised a batch of meat chickens in the same stall - disgusting! And certainly no less dirty or smelly then our ducks.
For us, ducks are a joy to have around. I have 4 chickens and I can't stand the mess they make in my barn because they roost up on everything. The ducks just poop on the ground (dirt floor) and it gets absorbed or raked up with all the horse poop. The chickens poop on my halter rack! Yuck!
Oh, by the way, I get almost an egg a day for 10 months a year from my ducks - and they are huge and delicious! You can see lots of duck pictures at our website www.harmonpfarms.blogspot.com
Anyway, I decided to get some ducks and we have been raising them everysince. We have a large fenced pen for them at night, about 24 X 60, with 24 X 12 feet of that under the barn over hang. Inside that pen, I also keep a 10 X 10 dog kennel with my flying breeds, (mandarins and white calls). There are a couple of dog houses for the ducks to go in as well as a chicken nest box thing with 10 nests in it. The ducks only use the bottom. There is no cover on the pen. We keep a llama in there at night for protection. We don't loose any ducks to predators.
During the day, our ducks roam the farm. They go into the pastures, the bull pen, the barn; anywhere they want. It is so cute to come to the barn and find them taking a nap by the hay. They follow the horses around and eat the grain they drop. They play in the mud puddles if it rains. In the evening, we carry a metal poultry feeder to thier pen and they come a running. We let them eat for a few minutes, then lock them up for the night. They have been foraging all day and really don't eat that much, most of what they ingest is free! We keep a large poulty waterer in the pen sitting up on a big rock (keeps it a little cleaner) and fill it once a day. When there are no puddles around and it's hot, we fill a kiddie pool for them too. This is their greatest pleasure!
We brood our ducklings in a 10 X 16 horse stall filled with old hay or pine shavings. From day one, they go right in there. We keep a heat lamp on in one corner, there is no need to put them in a smaller container. ( right now there are 30 ducklings in there!) We keep them in the stall till they are feathered out, about 6 weeks old, then out to the pen they go.
We have also raised a batch of meat chickens in the same stall - disgusting! And certainly no less dirty or smelly then our ducks.
For us, ducks are a joy to have around. I have 4 chickens and I can't stand the mess they make in my barn because they roost up on everything. The ducks just poop on the ground (dirt floor) and it gets absorbed or raked up with all the horse poop. The chickens poop on my halter rack! Yuck!
Oh, by the way, I get almost an egg a day for 10 months a year from my ducks - and they are huge and delicious! You can see lots of duck pictures at our website www.harmonpfarms.blogspot.com
