Muscovies pulling Ameracaunas butt fluff

[RedheadErin]

What should I do? They all sleep together in one shed, but go run around the yard during the day. IT seems to me the Ameracuanas could go up on thier roost when the muscovies start being mean, but I guess they dont.

 

[RedheadErin]

Mods:

I guess I put this in the wrong place. Could you please move it over to the thread about ducks and waterfowl? Thanks!

 

[mandelyn]

I built a 2 ft wall of plywood down the middle of our shed coop, attached wire to the remaining space above the plywood. Then cut another pop door for the new side. The older the ducks got, the more terrible they were to the chickens. It was peaceful after everyone got their own space.

You could also build a duck hut addition to the side of the coop, and incorporate a drinking station for them, that has the water over hardware cloth on the floor. The rest of the floor can be wood, but the hardware cloth allows for the water mess of the ducks to fall through to the ground, and not the bedding.

The main reason we separated them was the mess, the meaness was secondary. Building up "duck drinkers" was the best thing we did to manage the mess. The hardware cloth base also allows for heated bowls in the winter without fear of fire, since the water isn't sitting on something flammable.

We've since sold the ducks, the girls got too noisy and we have a lot of neighbors. 6 neighbor lots touch ours. Plus the rest of the block. Not everyone enjoyed the morning "QUACK!" When we move, we may get 'scovies. 2 acres allows for bigger birds, and there will only be 3 neighbors. When we build, we'll do everything we should have done first the last time. Definite learning curve on how to make ducks easy!