Opinions about keeping ducks....

[Jolyn]

Thanks everyone!!! Now what kind of housing do you use for your ducks?

I do have a dog kennel and was thinking of using that at first. They won't be that old when i get them sooooo it should be fine. What do they like to sleep in?

Thanks,
Jodie

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I have a couple bales of hay, and ontop of it is a tarp that is stapled to 4 pieces of wood. It stays nice and dry (usually they just stay out in the rain away). I use hay for bedding. During the winter, it gets really cold here, so I use lots of hay as bedding for them.

 

[destinduck]

ducks dont really need a house but in the summer need some form of shade I have all kiddie pools in my pens Its fun to watch them play as soon as you change the water (every three days for me)the show begins.In my big pen I have 5 pools and its halarios to watch!

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I change my water everyday. They poop up the water fast.

 

[destinduck]

Quote:
Home to paridise shelducks eropean shelducks,apricot and regular wood ducks,greenwing,cinnamon,marble,capeand chestnut teal mandarins,white and trout indian runners,barnacle geese,mallards,grey call ducks,canvasbacks,redheads,silver and na pintails,chloe widgeons,fulvous andwhite-faced tree ducks,rosy-billed pochard,na shoveler,ringed teal,lady amhearst and golden pheasants,a crazy white lab,koi,andtwo siamese cats. DUCKS RULE

 

[destinduck]

ducks dont really need a house but in the summer need some form of shade I have all kiddie pools in my pens Its fun to watch them play as soon as you change the water (every three days for me)the show begins.In my big pen I have 5 pools and its halarios to watch!

 

[LV426]

I've got backyard ducks so I can't have a pond for them either but I did go buy a 70 gallon stock tank and built a ramp up to it and they go in it all the time. My Pekin especially loves to get in and splash around like a fool. Ponds are impossible to change anyway so having a stock tank I can dump and refill is nice, plus I use the poopy water in my garden and fertilize it at the same time.

My yard is fenced in so they can roam around the yard but they do know how to get out and they walk around the neighborhood, especially to the people down the street who have slugs all over the place. The neighbors don't mind which is good. They come back every day though so I don't worry about them too much. At night I have a 5X5X4 Pen that I lock them into. Straw on the bottom which I change every day in summer and every 2 days in winter. It's got a hardware cloth top on one side which I cover with a tarp in severe weather and the other side is wood. It's solid wood around the 4 sides and set firmly on the ground with chickenwire nailed to the bottom. Sure you don't need housing for your ducks if you don't mind feeding the local wildlife.

Even though I'm in the city I still have coyotes, raccoons, opossums, and foxes that come through. Also feral cats and dogs can do a number on a sleeping duck. I've had coons and cats go after my ducks so I prefer to keep them locked up at night.

Depending on the type of duck you get the water may not even be an issue. Runners aren't very good swimmers and don't tend to go in the water if it's deep. They like shallower water in which case I filled a rubbermaid sweater box with water and they hopped in and splashed around. Now I have Pekin, Cayuga, and Golden Hybrids and they all love the water but I have to change the water everyday because the Cayugas have an oily film that washes off into the water and makes it dirty.

Good luck with your ducks!

 

[Calebs Acre]

I have ducks and geese. I use kiddie pools, Little Tikes sandboxes (that double as pools), I also use the masonry tubs from Tractor Supply (in their feeding bucket section). I clean then once or twice a day.

During the day, they free range in a former round pen that I extended from 50 feet to 80 feet in diameter. While free ranging, they have 4 different pools, which they muck up IMMEDIATELY.

At night, I have several dog kennels that are fully enclosed. Inside the dog kennels and outside in the round pen, I have a full "neighborhood" of Little Tikes plastic hoses, cabins, cottages, barns, and castles in which they can obtain shelter from rain and relief from the sun.

Every night, I go into the dog kennel, sit on a plastic chair, put food on the plastic table beside my chair and hand feed until everyone is in the kennel. Then, they get greens and grain and I can shut them up for the night.

In the morning, I open the door, bringing in food again, and feed them IN THE PEN, then leave the door open for the day so they can go back out to play for the day.

This way, they ONLY get their food in the kennel and want to come in when I show up. I don't have to herd them anymore as I once had to do when I first started putting them in at night. Even the most stand-offish bird now comes into its kennel quite willingly.

The younger geese and ducks are at my feet, pulling my clothes and begging to be fed first.

I put hooks on the doors and windows of the playhouses and hardware cloth "screens" on the windows that don't have shutters, so it will allow me to shut them in when the weather is worse. I should put them in the houses at night to add extra protection from predators, but it has been SO SO SO hot and humid that I don't want to deprive them of water and the space.

Why are all of my posts so long? I have a BIG mouth!!

Nancy