Moveable "QuackMobile" as Living Quarters for 2 Muscovy Ducks?

[Barry Natchitoches]

I have two baby muscovy ducks, less than two weeks old.


Right now, they are in a small cage on my front porch. It is warm, and they are safe and happy.


But they will grow their feathers, and grow out of that cage, and I have a huge vegetable garden that I can't let them roam freely in.


So I was thinking about taking one of those large, wire, portable dog cages, cutting most of the wire bottom out of it so that they would be able to be on top of the soil, putting two wheels on one side and wooden handles on the other -- essentially turning the cage into a mobile duck "tractor." Sort of the way you do with chicken tractors.


Only I would call it my QuackMobile.


That way, I could move them each day, and they could feast on the insects of the garden without being able to wreck the garden. I can give them a plywood "roof" that is larger than their cage in order to provide them with a sunshade in this harsh summer sun, and if it gets too cold or too stormy for them to remain safe in the winter then I can temporarily move the QuackMobile to a safer location near our house. I can even provide them with hay bale wind blockers if the weather is bad enough.


Any reason why this would not work?


What is the best way to give them water and supplemental food in such an arrangement?


Also, I was thinking about getting them a kiddie pool, and removing them from their cage to play in the pool in the afternoon for about a half hour, when my wife and/or I have time to supervise their play.


Anything else I need to know before I try this?


Please keep in mind, I've never owned a duck before. Only chickens. So I really don't know what to expect.

 

[Going Quackers]

Hmmm. I admit to being awful an envisioning things lol i am unsure how that would work, your right they'll grow and muscovy especially the males are BIG ..

What are your long term plans? They'll need safe predator proof housing at night, what sort do you have in your area?(predators) I can tell you what we have done with ours that are now 11wks old, i have a dog run that i keep there pool/food/water in.. there is a shade "table" in there as well.. however i remove them at night, we have recently started to 'free range' and open up the run so they can explore and forage... i realize not everyone can go about things with this method... but i do feel going by the sizing of my own they need a pretty good size run to accommodate decent foraging and ducks are rather messy to lol

I would do a bit of a search, as each person has there own methods and of coarse your climate and size of flock effects the type of set-up to.

 

[FarmrGirl]

it would work fine. I don't know if your Muscovy would be totally happy... they really like wandering around. But as slow moving as they are, if you have a lot of predators, this sounds like a good option.

There're a lot of chicken tractor options out there on the web with interesting arrangements for water and food. My concern would be how to provide swimming water. Maybe you could attach a "pool holder" and put a concrete mixing tub in it, kinda like this situation (for call ducks so it's smaller): https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=252939

 

[Oregon Blues]

Don't cut the bottom out of it. They will eat the grass and bugs through the wire just fine. Having it enclosed all the way around will give them at least some protection against predators. If you remove the bottom, all the predator has to do is knock the cage over.