No Chickens, Only Ducks (quack)

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lmalialis said:
Hello! I have been raising ducks for 3 years now in our urban backyard. It's been an adventure full of learning. I started out with three ducklings in April 2020 during COVID and while I was on maternity leave. My sister hatched them (she lives out in the country and has ducks, chickens, geese, and meat rabbits) and helped me get setup with the brooder, feed, etc. I also found a lady that brings in bags of Healthy Herds feed once a month so it means less trips out to get supplies. The three ducklings were a white Indian Runner (Scooter), and two BYM (one for sure was Pekin X Khaki Campbell - Hazel) and Purdy. Purdy turned out to be a boy so he went to live with my sister because I just want ladies as I dislike how aggressive drakes can be. Purdy was kind of a jerk :p I purchased two 1 year old Welsh Harlequin ducks from a farm June 2020. It took a year to get them to eat from my hand and they're still skittish but they've definitely figured out I mean food and so they will follow me around everywhere in the yard.

Our back yard is sectioned into two parts: The side yard is fenced & where the ducks are with a 15'X3' and 8X3' raised garden beds and an apple tree. The other side is mostly lawn for the family and dog (plus the deck, my greenhouse and a play area for our three year old). Although I love hanging out with the ducks on the lawn my husband really gets annoyed by the poop and their hole digging so it's not very often. They DO NOT like this and often stand at the fence quacking to be let out. I've been thinking about growing them a little patch of grass. The side yard is fully mulched with wood bark and topped with leaves every fall from my neighbour's trees. But I think they'd decimate anything they could eat.

I purchased an 8X6 metal shed off Kijiji, painted it yellow, built a wood & hardware mesh door (instead of the sliding doors it came with) and then purchased an 9X6 coated chicken wire run that sits next to the coop which is where their food, water and pool sit. It's covered with a tarp so it tends to be cool in the summer. The pool sits on a wood frame filled with rocks to help prevent them digging up all around it. I cut a hole in the shed so they can come and go but I think it needs a flap to keep out wind in the winter. They get free range time when I'm out in the yard with them. I'm hoping to beautify the run area with some flowers or plants my ducks won't destroy as it's definitely not as cute as the shed. I did not realize how destructive ducks really are when it comes to edibles in the garden. They're little ninjas are getting under netting and through chicken wire.

Last fall a bobcat caught and killed Hazel when they were outside and I was in the kitchen washing dishes 😭 So now they're never out unless I am. Our dog also is good with the ducks, he leaves them alone but he loves to chase cats so he's a bit more protection.

The biggest learning curve for me has been winter. We get down to -35C here, with deep snow and hard winds. I have to shovel from the back door, across our deck, across the lawn, dig out the gate, coop and run doors whenever it snows 😐 But water is the biggest PITA. I use a roasting pan with a stock tank heater sitting on a milk crate so they don't hot tub in it but can still dunk their heads. I haul two 3 gallon watering cans every day. I try to dump the water in one area so it doesn't become a giant ice rink in the run. And no pool when it's below 0C. Between Jan-March we often get Chinooks where it's warm enough I can run the hose to let them clean up in the pool outside the run but it's a pain and I have to dump the pool water in places I won't get up wiping out on. I want to come up with a better system but I haven't been able to dream it up yet. I keep an XL insulated Igloo dog house inside the coop for them to cuddle up in. I have not heated the coop but this January I did add a light because they stopped laying early Sept! But then I regretted it because the eggs would freeze if I didn't get out to the coop by 8am.

My seconded biggest issue are the flies. Dear lord the flies! In the summer it is absolutely GROSS. I've used those bag traps and they smell horrendous but catch a lot. I also have used the hanging net bag ones and used dog poop as bait but it doesn't catch as many. And there are still loads of flies around. I've found keeping their run dry as possible helps and I'm looking into trying lime this summer as I hear good things.

This fall I'm hatching more Indian Runner ducklings. Specifically Trout and Chocolate Lilac/Lavender. I've never hatched anything before. I did a ton of research, purchased an incubator & hygrometer off Amazon, and shipped in 24 hatching eggs from a farm. 20 are confirmed embryos and heading into the final countdown! I'm on Day 19. I'm planning to keep 2-3 and sell the rest. I think 6 ducks is my absolute max in the space we have. I haven't told my husband yet that their brooder is going to be in the garage for 8 weeks 😂

I've also been building a compost pile made of pallets to reuse the duck muck and bedding as soil in the garden. I've mulched my beds with their used wood shavings and it broke down really well. The two piles are enormous after the spring clean out of the the coop and run lol

This is my Instagram if you want to see photos: https://www.instagram.com/gonequackersyyc/
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