Planning for three ducks

[pinewoodacres]

So a friend was telling me how she has three male ducks and she puts a kiddie pool by one of her fruit trees and dumps it every morning and then moves it to the next. I thought this was genius and we didn’t really want ducks (all animals must earn their keep here) but we are going to be putting in young fruit trees next year so I’m thinking about doing this. A few questions I would rather ask here since the aforementioned friend is also new to ducks.

1 - Would three males be okay as far as fighting and whatnot it there are no females around?

2 - How much space would you give them? I was thinking electric fencing I would move every few days as their run area.

3 - Kiddie pool, electric netting…what else? What type of housing do they use? I read that they don’t go in on their own at night and they are also up at night so would prefer not closing them in if I can help it, but I know we have some predators here (I’ve personally seen one coyote, hawks, coons, possums, random dogs at times, not sure what else). Could I put 1/2” hardware cloth on the bottom (not as a skirt but literally on the bottom of the coop) or will that hurt their feet? We have sand and grass here. And weeds. Lol

4 - With the above, I would love to figure out some moveable housing/shade/bird netting? type deal that won’t be a giant pain when I move it and the fencing. Any out of the box ideas on this? Maybe even putting up T posts that I can just reconnect things to when I move the fencing? And a tractor type housing on wheels? Essentially I want something moveable, safe, and to serve their basic needs.

5 - Any breed recommendations for non flying ducks that could conceivably be used for meat if I ever go that route but won’t be like Cornish X where you really MUST butcher at a certain age? For now the goal is just fertilizing trees. Lol

Thanks, y’all!

 

[ruthhope]

My flock is an all drake flock. I find there are no problems with drakes out foraging during the day. Hormones kick in with heightened pecking order behaviors at certain times of the year. This can be somewhat of an issue in the coop. I have dogcrates to accommodate pekin drakes when they are squabbling among themselves or if my muscovy are excluding them from food and water. Actually, the separation into dogcrates is for me as much as their wellbeing as most pecking order behavior is not serious (feathers pulled but no lacerations or other injuries) and pekins can get all their food and water during the day outside the confines of the coop.

A 4' x 8' coop is amply big enough for 6 ducks . But I would not use 4' x4' for 3 ducks although the rule of thumb is 4sq ft per adult duck. I would give three ducks a 4' x 6' coop.

For a pen for daytime foraging, you need to consider predators. My yard is fully fenced with a 6ft fence on a cinderblock foundation. I have mature trees and lots of bushes, and I am in a suburban neighborhood. There are foxes, raccoons, and even a bobcat in the neighborhood, but none are likely to come into my back garden that is surrounded by fenced back gardens during the day. We have red shouldered hawks and coopers hawks that dont hunt in the conditions of my back garden and I dont think are a danger to my ducks. It's a calculated risk, but I let my ducks free range in my back garden during the day: and get them safely in the coop before dusk and owl prowl time.

If you make the risk calculation and decide your ducks can free range but want to limit how far they wander, you might use temporary dog exercise pens (Tractor Supply, Chewy or Amazon) to confine them to a certain area each day. A cheaper option, but more effort, would be temporary fencing on fencing poles. Chicken wire or similar will keep ducks in but will not keep predators out.

I do not think an electric fence will work; and I think it would be unnecessary.

if you do the risk calculation and decide the ducks cannot free range as they must be protected from predators, you will need a predator proof run. It would need strong walls -- covered with half inch hardware cloth -- a roof that might be covered with chicken wire and a tarp but would be best to be covered in hardware cloth and a tarp, and means for ensuring nothing can dig underneath and get to your ducks.

Some duck keepers do build tractors that can be moved round their property but if they are robust, they are heavy. My son has his ducks in a tractor, but he long since stopped moving it round his garden because of the weight.

 

[pinewoodacres]

My flock is an all drake flock. I find there are no problems with drakes out foraging during the day. Hormones kick in with heightened pecking order behaviors at certain times of the year. This can be somewhat of an issue in the coop. I have dogcrates to accommodate pekin drakes when they are squabbling among themselves or if my muscovy are excluding them from food and water. Actually, the separation into dogcrates is for me as much as their wellbeing as most pecking order behavior is not serious (feathers pulled but no lacerations or other injuries) and pekins can get all their food and water during the day outside the confines of the coop.

A 4' x 8' coop is amply big enough for 6 ducks . But I would not use 4' x4' for 3 ducks although the rule of thumb is 4sq ft per adult duck. I would give three ducks a 4' x 6' coop.

For a pen for daytime foraging, you need to consider predators. My yard is fully fenced with a 6ft fence on a cinderblock foundation. I have mature trees and lots of bushes, and I am in a suburban neighborhood. There are foxes, raccoons, and even a bobcat in the neighborhood, but none are likely to come into my back garden that is surrounded by fenced back gardens during the day. We have red shouldered hawks and coopers hawks that dont hunt in the conditions of my back garden and I dont think are a danger to my ducks. It's a calculated risk, but I let my ducks free range in my back garden during the day: and get them safely in the coop before dusk and owl prowl time.

If you make the risk calculation and decide your ducks can free range but want to limit how far they wander, you might use temporary dog exercise pens (Tractor Supply, Chewy or Amazon) to confine them to a certain area each day. A cheaper option, but more effort, would be temporary fencing on fencing poles. Chicken wire or similar will keep ducks in but will not keep predators out.

I do not think an electric fence will work or it would be unnecessary.

if you do the risk calculation and decide the ducks cannot free range as they must be protected from predators, you will need a predator proof run. It would need strong walls -- covered with half inch hardware cloth -- a roof that might be covered with chicken wire and a tarp but would be best to be covered in hardware cloth and a tarp, and means for ensuring nothing can dig underneath and get to your ducks.

Some duck keepers do build tractors that can be moved round their property but if they are robust, they are heavy. My son has his ducks in a tractor, but he long since stopped moving it round his garden because of the weight.

Such great info, thank you!

 

[ruthhope]

On coops: you have to lock your ducks up in a secure duck house or coops at night. I don;t know what it is about ducks but they don't go in at a certain time like chickens. They will come over to be near the coop at bedtime and occasionally but not reliably go in. So duck keepers have to be there for the ducks at bedtime!!

The floor of my coop, and my son's tractor turned coop, is half inch hardware cloth. Our respective yards are on very sandy soil. We put deep litter over the floor and there is no trauma to our ducks feet. I have access to large quantities of oak leaves -- live oaks shed hteir leaves every march in NE Florida and I collect sacksful from round my neighborhood. I find a good layer of oak leaves is a great foundation to deep littering with pine shavings. Our ducks get bales of pine straw in the cold months to provide shelter as their coops are not cold proof as coops have to be further north, but we do get neights than fall to 30-32F. The pinestraw too gets pulled onto the deep layer litter for the ducks to snuggle into -- although the muscovy prefer sleeping atop the bales!! Up north, you need a wind and rainproof duck house that is well ventilated, and pine straw can add to the warnth.

Drakes that don't fly that you might eat? Muscovy and Pekins fit that -- although I don't eat my pets, I understand that many duck keepers are not so sentimental. Muscovy females can often fly, but pekins cant.