I saw the pretty little mink running out in our back yard. It is expected since mink are native and love woodsy places by a creek and we live on a narrow river.
We lost 5 duckies to the mink in the past month to the mink.
We are poor. We have our ducks and so on out of love, but we really cannot afford to buy the top of the line materials and we just figure things out the best we can.
We have one house some friends made for the ducks that I created with its own yard. It is about 6 by 8 and was made from some old metal pieces that extended the sides of a truck. The floor is covered by this same sort of wire, too. The door for human entry on one side closes well. I put a guillotine door on other side to the allow the ducks (Khakis) to run out into their yard and swim in the puddle we made for them. They loved that. The mink got in early AM by going under the guillotine door. So, last week I put a metal flashing piece along the bottom of the guillotine door, and no mink since. then. However, I cannot safely let ducks live there because the yard is not predator protected. Ducks need sunshine and a place to swim. Inside the duck house (shed) is too small and will get to wet for safe living (and will become smelly!).
The yard is 10 by 6 and has a pretty little picket fence and a pretty little gate. I took the tub in there away and scraped off the wood chips from the ground and am about to build a structure to make the duck yard safe. Someone promised to buy me 5 Khaki Campbell ducks for that area once it is safe.
To build a safe place I will need expensive materials unless someone has a better idea: I plan to make a cage about 5 1/2 feet tall around the perimeter of the yard. It will require posts on the end farthest from the house. The ground is very rocky and that will be difficult. Possibly, I can use 3 gallon garden buckets or 5 gallon ones to make the cement footings in rather than digging down. That sort of footing will require more stapling of chicken wire but it is do-able.
The walls will be mostly 1 inch chicken wire since hardware cloth is about 3 times as costly. I will put 2 X4s along the bottoms, and run them from the far away from the house where there will be the posts to the house where the guillotine door is. I will put 2 by 4s on the tops of each of the 3 walls, held up by screw put into the posts at the far corners and the house itself at the other two corners. I will staple on the chicken wire. I do have some metal siding, which I can use for some of the walls. It is not pretty but it is strong, and it will make it take a bit less chicken wire. I will need a door where the current gate is to have human access to the duck yard.
The top will need wire over it, too. They are ducks so that if they can go inside when they want to be out of the rain. I will not need a roof over the top of the yard for them to keep dry. For my chickens, I would make a roof out of a tarp on a frame that is removable, but not for ducks.
Chicken wire is very costly. I need about 200 square feet of it! The skill required to build it is beyond my own. (I am a 70 year old woman). I will hire someone.
Once the sort of cage is in place, I will also put chicken wire on the floor of the run and connect it to the walls and then I will return the dirt I took out. (I think I will do it in the opposite sequence: Lay down the wire, ensure the ends are visible, cover with dirt, and then put on the walls and ceiling.
That solves those Khakis, but we still have 7 other rescued ducks. I have them inside the pasture with chickens, goats, turkeys, guineas. This pasture area is around 30 by 80 and is the place where most of the animals live. It is more or less oval shaped, with one side being a set of 3 coops and a little goat barn.
The mink can go into this pasture. To secure it will be impossible. The mixed set of duckies need a home, I believe, inside that pasture. I predict getting another 7 or so more ducks since people tend to get them and find them even more difficult to keep. We have acquired our 7 ducks in just the past few months. What might be a simple way to keep up to 15 ducks safe at night and in the early mornings? I am thinking the solution would be to make them a little house to go into. Of course, some chickens and maybe even a goat will go in. You cannot prevent that. However, I want the ducks to be safe. What sort of house would be easy and not costly?
We lost 5 duckies to the mink in the past month to the mink.
We are poor. We have our ducks and so on out of love, but we really cannot afford to buy the top of the line materials and we just figure things out the best we can.
We have one house some friends made for the ducks that I created with its own yard. It is about 6 by 8 and was made from some old metal pieces that extended the sides of a truck. The floor is covered by this same sort of wire, too. The door for human entry on one side closes well. I put a guillotine door on other side to the allow the ducks (Khakis) to run out into their yard and swim in the puddle we made for them. They loved that. The mink got in early AM by going under the guillotine door. So, last week I put a metal flashing piece along the bottom of the guillotine door, and no mink since. then. However, I cannot safely let ducks live there because the yard is not predator protected. Ducks need sunshine and a place to swim. Inside the duck house (shed) is too small and will get to wet for safe living (and will become smelly!).
The yard is 10 by 6 and has a pretty little picket fence and a pretty little gate. I took the tub in there away and scraped off the wood chips from the ground and am about to build a structure to make the duck yard safe. Someone promised to buy me 5 Khaki Campbell ducks for that area once it is safe.
To build a safe place I will need expensive materials unless someone has a better idea: I plan to make a cage about 5 1/2 feet tall around the perimeter of the yard. It will require posts on the end farthest from the house. The ground is very rocky and that will be difficult. Possibly, I can use 3 gallon garden buckets or 5 gallon ones to make the cement footings in rather than digging down. That sort of footing will require more stapling of chicken wire but it is do-able.
The walls will be mostly 1 inch chicken wire since hardware cloth is about 3 times as costly. I will put 2 X4s along the bottoms, and run them from the far away from the house where there will be the posts to the house where the guillotine door is. I will put 2 by 4s on the tops of each of the 3 walls, held up by screw put into the posts at the far corners and the house itself at the other two corners. I will staple on the chicken wire. I do have some metal siding, which I can use for some of the walls. It is not pretty but it is strong, and it will make it take a bit less chicken wire. I will need a door where the current gate is to have human access to the duck yard.
The top will need wire over it, too. They are ducks so that if they can go inside when they want to be out of the rain. I will not need a roof over the top of the yard for them to keep dry. For my chickens, I would make a roof out of a tarp on a frame that is removable, but not for ducks.
Chicken wire is very costly. I need about 200 square feet of it! The skill required to build it is beyond my own. (I am a 70 year old woman). I will hire someone.
Once the sort of cage is in place, I will also put chicken wire on the floor of the run and connect it to the walls and then I will return the dirt I took out. (I think I will do it in the opposite sequence: Lay down the wire, ensure the ends are visible, cover with dirt, and then put on the walls and ceiling.
That solves those Khakis, but we still have 7 other rescued ducks. I have them inside the pasture with chickens, goats, turkeys, guineas. This pasture area is around 30 by 80 and is the place where most of the animals live. It is more or less oval shaped, with one side being a set of 3 coops and a little goat barn.
The mink can go into this pasture. To secure it will be impossible. The mixed set of duckies need a home, I believe, inside that pasture. I predict getting another 7 or so more ducks since people tend to get them and find them even more difficult to keep. We have acquired our 7 ducks in just the past few months. What might be a simple way to keep up to 15 ducks safe at night and in the early mornings? I am thinking the solution would be to make them a little house to go into. Of course, some chickens and maybe even a goat will go in. You cannot prevent that. However, I want the ducks to be safe. What sort of house would be easy and not costly?
