Moving ducks out of the house

[Soon2BChixMom]

I have mine out beside the chickens, but they have their own house. Bought a child's playhouse off of CL and converted it. Lots of people have made simple duck houses. You could use the dog house idea and put it in the chicken run. How big is the run and how many chickens do you have?

 

[Miss Lydia]

You could try but fist move them in with them in the crate so they all get use to each other. My ducks and chickens are fine all together since my chickens roost and ducks sleep on the floor I did put up poop boards under my roosts so the ducks don't get pooped on over night. But when introducing young duckling to an already established flock of chickens you have to go about it slowly or your chickens may end up seriously injuring your ducklings. Let them sleep in the crate till they are completely feathered in and set up a separate area in your run for the ducklings to be by themselves but where everyone can see each other during the day,Temporary fencing works well for this. The only problem I can see down the road is if you have drakes they get so hormonal once sexual they will most likely want to mate with your hens and that will be death sentence for the hens. So eventually you'll probably want to make a secure run for the ducks. I know people buy ducks and set them out on a pond lake etc but we have no idea how many of them survive for long. Domestics just aren't made to live on their own like wild ones.

 

[MrsTater2]

This is a pic of it. We have a total of 11 chickens, including the 3 babies in the little box that’s in the coop. We also have the old chicken coop still that we aren’t using. I was worried the ducks wouldn’t be able to climb the ramp though.

 

[MrsTater2]

You could try but fist move them in with them in the crate so they all get use to each other. My ducks and chickens are fine all together since my chickens roost and ducks sleep on the floor I did put up poop boards under my roosts so the ducks don't get pooped on over night. But when introducing young duckling to an already established flock of chickens you have to go about it slowly or your chickens may end up seriously injuring your ducklings. Let them sleep in the crate till they are completely feathered in and set up a separate area in your run for the ducklings to be by themselves but where everyone can see each other during the day,Temporary fencing works well for this. The only problem I can see down the road is if you have drakes they get so hormonal once sexual they will most likely want to mate with your hens and that will be death sentence for the hens. So eventually you'll probably want to make a secure run for the ducks. I know people buy ducks and set them out on a pond lake etc but we have no idea how many of them survive for long. Domestics just aren't made to live on their own like wild ones.

Odd question but how do they do on rock? The coop is on chat from our parking lot and I’m guessing the ducks won’t be a fan. I could put plywood down though as a floor if need be.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Rock? like cement or asphalt?
Poultry feet can get pretty messed up from being on anything like that bumble foot is one concern plywood with cheap vinyl flooring over to protect the wood would def be better or horse stall mats.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I know some ducks can climb ramps, not sure about Pekins and that small ramp though.
The shed should be plenty big and your run too. But, if needed you could set up the dog house. Or see how they do in the coop. That would be a good integration coop too. I say, get those babies off your sun room and outside!
I set up a temp divider with welded wire.

 

[MrsTater2]

It’s gravel like you’d find on a gravel road. I have enough pine shavings to put on top though and level it out to be more comfortable until we can get to town to get plywood. We’ll find a coop for them that works and see if they use it or prefer the chicken’s coop. Thanks so much for the advice! I knew there had to be a way to keep them I just didn’t know what to do besides check here

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Keep us updated!