muscovy and chickens

[CelticOaksFarm]

You can buy or build a dog house adding a secure door and windows covered with hardware cloth for ventilation for a couple of ducks to sleep in at night. Open the door in the morning, close them up secure at night. No need to have food and water in over night with them so 2 ducks in a dog house would work well. Cement mixing pans from home depot and lowes make excellent pools too.

 

[archil]

ah awesome thanks, I can probably find a cheap dog house on trademe or something, and I have heaps of stuff left over from making other coops to add the extra bits

 

[missydcpc]

My scovies sleep in the coop with the chickens....but then I have a 12x18 room for a coop. 2 of the ducks will go out the chicken door to get outside....and 2 of them are fussy and wait for me to come through the personnel door and then they go out into the main garage and then outside to forage. None of my winged creatures seem to believe that the fences I spent all that time putting up are there for their protection....they do believe that we own 3 acres for their enjoyment.

 

[archil]

None of my winged creatures seem to believe that the fences I spent all that time putting up are there for their protection....they do believe that we own 3 acres for their enjoyment.

are you saying that if i leave the ducks out they'll jump/fly over the fences?
I heard that muscovys don't fly, as they're quite large, could they jump/fly over the fence I have? I've never seen a duck jump.
It's just over a meter tall, maybe a meter and a half.
Can I get their wings clipped, just in case?

 

[PerfectPoultry]

My muscovies flew up to the top of a tree ( literally over 120 feet tall out in our forest/pasture ) these birds CAN fly... People say domestic ducks can't fly but every one of my domestic hand raised ducks can fly like an eagle

 

[PerfectPoultry]

They will jump that fence easy... Clip their four feathers on the tips of the wings.

 

[missydcpc]

Not fly????? My oldest duck spent the first months that she was here sleeping on the apex of the garage roof! She startled a guest by tapping on the skylight to inform her it was time for breakfast! They often FLY from the rear corner of the property when the chickens start their "ooh the food lady is here" call.

 

[PerfectPoultry]

Yea, my cousin got in a ruckus on here with people saying its physically impossible for a domestic duck to fly... It's so possible! Someone obliviously didn't know what they were talking about! My ducks soar like eagles!!!

 

[Crafty-Duck]

My Muscovy's when they were young (even the male) tried out their wings!!!! and boy did they fly high!!!! it freaked me out

 

[Countrywantabe]

I thought our yard was a nice size for the two ducks we raised- Not so! They are so gosh darn messy it was so gross. They make WAY more mess than chickens and they are harder on the plants. I had read that they were messier but I thought how bad can it be? Pay attention- Ducks are messy! Couldn't keep the chicken's water clean for anything longer than two seconds. We had fun raising them but it just got to be too much- rehomed them before winter snow set in as they wouldn't use the shelter either.