Hi all -
Anyone know of any options to buy a pre-fabricated coop/house and run for a few ducks? I'm not super handy, but willing to do some light building. Not lazy - just looking for a low-maintenance solution to convince my mother to keep our ducks.
For background, my family and I are raising four ducklings as our "quarantine project" while I'm stuck back home with my folks riding out the shelter-in-place, but while the original plan was to give them away to a neighbor when I move back to the city, I would love to convince my mom that we can keep them. We used to have chickens, but lost them all to predators (we've got every predator in the books out here in the countryside of Northern California). We're a bit scarred, but now that I'm much older, I understand we were poorly educated and not at all equipped to protect them.
My objective here is to convince my parents to keep our ducks by:
1. Convincing her with as much certainty as possible that we can keep our ducks safe from predators. We've grown very attached and my mom doesn't want to "lose anymore sleep" at night worrying about their safety. The idea is to provide her with a plan to completely rest her mind at ease.
2. Assure her that they are completely safe and well-cared for, even if they decide to go on vacation for a week.
I can tell I'm starting to persuade her, but as much as I'd love to set out on a building expedition with my dad, my mom doesn't want this huge commitment. So my idea is to see if I can buy a pre-made duck house and run (or as close as possible) that we can further fortify with extra securities. Then, I think we can successfully convince her to keep them.
Any ideas? Any advice is helpful! I'd really love to keep these ducks in the family, but am also on the same page as my mom that we can't afford to lose any others to predators. I'd also like to feel totally secure with knowing they're safe and I'm willing to do anything to keep it that way. I'll cover their entire world in hardware cloth ten times over if that's what it takes. <3
Anyone know of any options to buy a pre-fabricated coop/house and run for a few ducks? I'm not super handy, but willing to do some light building. Not lazy - just looking for a low-maintenance solution to convince my mother to keep our ducks.
For background, my family and I are raising four ducklings as our "quarantine project" while I'm stuck back home with my folks riding out the shelter-in-place, but while the original plan was to give them away to a neighbor when I move back to the city, I would love to convince my mom that we can keep them. We used to have chickens, but lost them all to predators (we've got every predator in the books out here in the countryside of Northern California). We're a bit scarred, but now that I'm much older, I understand we were poorly educated and not at all equipped to protect them.
My objective here is to convince my parents to keep our ducks by:
1. Convincing her with as much certainty as possible that we can keep our ducks safe from predators. We've grown very attached and my mom doesn't want to "lose anymore sleep" at night worrying about their safety. The idea is to provide her with a plan to completely rest her mind at ease.
2. Assure her that they are completely safe and well-cared for, even if they decide to go on vacation for a week.
I can tell I'm starting to persuade her, but as much as I'd love to set out on a building expedition with my dad, my mom doesn't want this huge commitment. So my idea is to see if I can buy a pre-made duck house and run (or as close as possible) that we can further fortify with extra securities. Then, I think we can successfully convince her to keep them.
Any ideas? Any advice is helpful! I'd really love to keep these ducks in the family, but am also on the same page as my mom that we can't afford to lose any others to predators. I'd also like to feel totally secure with knowing they're safe and I'm willing to do anything to keep it that way. I'll cover their entire world in hardware cloth ten times over if that's what it takes. <3
