My lil duckies!

[Big Dreamer]

Dont i have to clip the boys wings too? And it is weird how they do the crotch thing isnt it! but it like like 10 foot by 38 foot so idk, but the lwan so far has absorbed to poo and water

 

[Goat_Walker]

Once they get their adult feathers you will have to clip all their wings, since scovies are superb flyers

GORGEOUS ducks though! Im jealous!

 

[Big Dreamer]

Ok thanks, but like i said the pen is 10 by 38feet so is that enough for 10 ducks

 

[ejctm]

Hey BD - love the photos! Your ducks are going to be absolute stunners when they fully feather out - I am very jealous!

With your question about ranging area, I think that there are recommended square footage amounts per bird, but these recommendations are for commercial breeders. I guess you might have to do some research to find out more.

Sorry I can't be more help, but if I were you, I would expand the space if you are getting more ducks to add to this lot. You will find that they completely destroy the grass otherwise and are then just ranging on pure mud. Also their foraging food, such as worms and insects will be less, if they have no grass cover and if they have to share the space with too many others. The bigger the better is a good rule of thumb about ranging space. I only have a limited garden area, so I know I cannot get more ducks or chickens as they would overgraze it

. Of course I would have at least 20 if I could

Shame you can't put a fence out into the water to "borrow" a bit of that river space!!

 

[cracking up]

I think you should make it as big as you can. Muscovys are usually really large ducks. I think it looks small.

 

[Big Dreamer]

Actually we were thinking of making a small fence in the canal and a ramp in and out and making it so nothing could get in or out accept water and poop, and it would be naturally filtered, so yeah. but i thought that the commercial space for each bird was like 2 square feet and the regular is like 10 feet, so 10x10 is 100square feet and i have a pen 10x38 i think thats 380square feet so i think i got enough space, it does look small in the pics, but its really not if you are just standing or sitting in the pen, and my dad and i are going to go pick up a huge pond for them so its not a kiddie pool anymore and we are going to build a much needed and bigger coop!! So i don't really know, on the rest of the canal there is a 2 foot fence, but for the pen it is 4 foot tall, so i don't know if i will eventually let them free roam. I just don't know if welsh harlequins can fly short distances like chicken, because i was eventually going to get a trio of little welshes and didn't want then flying into the canal, and when it comes time i was going to clip the Muscovys wings, unless the know not to leave or if they do they come back. I don't think that would happen, i would probably clip them though!! and thanks for all the advice, and if you would please give me some more i would GLADLY appreciate it

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

What I have heard is that Welsh Harlequins can fly. When my ducklings feather out I plan to clip one wing for the mallards and the Harlequins.

As for the yard all I know is that Ducks are messy- they making mud everywhere they go at my place (of course I did have to get 31 so I have 3 times as many as you). I plan on building a run this week for mine that will just a bit bigger in size to yours but then free ranging them as much as possible. Just plan on the pond needing to be emptied a lot! Make sure that you have a drain on it as you will want this.

Good Luck~~~

 

[Big Dreamer]

Thank you for the info, well the person we are buying it from said we can have the filter for free, so i was counting on that alot but like once every like month if its not really dirty then i wouldnt need a drain, rite now with the kiddie pool i just have a jug with the bottom taken out and the lid shut, and i just scoop and it takes about 10 big scoops to get everything out. and in the pond i would have largge fish so the ducks couldnt eat them so they could eat poop or algae and the lady is giving us her big koi and sucker fish for free too so i really dont know!!

 

[stumble_n_mumble]

well when your ducks get older you'll only need one male so the other males you can find homes for and not have a huge amount!

 

[Big Dreamer]

Well as of now they lady that gave us the muscovies she said there was only one male and maybe another because she couldnt tell if it was a boy or a girl, so i dont really know. And in the spring when i get welsh harlequins, im gonna give up some or a lot of my muscovies unless that have ducklings i would keep the ducklings make them friendly and only keep like a pair. then get the trio of welshes and then i wouldopnly have 5 plus my adorable pekin male, the trio of wleshes would by 2 females and 1 males. so i would eventually be downs sizing, but i just dont know if wlesh harlequins are REALLY loud. because they lady i got the muscoies from said that her adults arent loud at all, but other people say theirs are super noisy, and i live in a residential area, so to much noise means "the popo the fuzz hide the loot!' so i dont want to attract any attention. and i was planning on getting adult welsh harlequins and just let them have a clutch of ducklings and then keep some of the ducklings and if they arent noisy eventually weeve out the muscovies and have all wlesh harlequins and of course my big baby my pekin male!! sound good or dive me some ideas