Ramps vs Stairs for Mallard House

[jolenesdad]

I'm working on the design for my Mallard's house when they leave the brooder. They're currently 4 weeks old and in a 3'x8' stock tank. I'm going to clip their wings and keep them in a house I'm building inside a small barn and they'll have access to a 3/4 acre pasture that is fenced in with metal horse fencing wire when we are training or working with horses and are around the ducks to keep them safe each day.

When they are not out, they'll be inside this room, it is 14 ft long, 6 feet wide, and 8 feet tall. This gives each duck almost 30 sf of space, but I am wanting to increase that. I am going to build a large shelf in the back of the room with a slotted floor and a masonry tub pool in it for them. I also would like to do a couple of wide shelves along the sides to give them other spaces to be. Here are my two questions...

1. Will they care to be on different levels if they are easy to get to? There's several spaces I could drastically add to their square footage inside if I could build some wide shelves to be additional "floors" to their home.

2. What is the best way to GET them to the other levels? Long, low grade ramps? Stairs? Combo of both? I see a lot of people say ramps are not their duck's favorite, is it because the grade is steep or some other reason? Should I work with cinder block stair steps or some other material to create stairs? For those who like stairs, how high are the steps?

Thank you for your help!!!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I'm really not sure about levels, but it wouldn't hurt to try. I have larger ducks and they definitely benefit from a ramp. They struggle with hopping up stairs and have no flying ability. I put a rough paper like piece on the ramp to help them grip. You could also put little slats across it to provide a little footing. But if you're set on stairs I would go for it. I wouldn't put the height at any more than a foot, foot and a half.

I hope you'll share pictures when it's finished