Runner Ducks

[gofasterstripe]

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Naaaa. 10 is never enough. I just put my order in at Holderreads, I ordered 14!! to go with the other 15..or is it 16 I have

 

[ejctm]

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With 10 ducks on that amount of ground, that patch of grass will be "patch of mud" within a matter of weeks! Either don't bother with grass, or make it a much larger area if you want it to stay green. They will destroy it, by eating it, digging holes in it, and pooing all over it. I speak from experience!

Sounds like you are planning a lovely set up. I use bark chippings as a ground surface, which I turn every week or so, then after a few months, I remove the surface 4 inches or so and compost it (great for the garden when well rotted down). Pea gravel is good too if your ground will allow water to soak in underneath.

You wanted some pics, so here goes (any excuse, eh!

)

This is my highly intelligent duck-herding chicken. She is trained to collie sheep-dog standards

 

[gofasterstripe]

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With 10 ducks on that amount of ground, that patch of grass will be "patch of mud" within a matter of weeks! Either don't bother with grass, or make it a much larger area if you want it to stay green. They will destroy it, by eating it, digging holes in it, and pooing all over it. I speak from experience!

Sounds like you are planning a lovely set up. I use bark chippings as a ground surface, which I turn every week or so, then after a few months, I remove the surface 4 inches or so and compost it (great for the garden when well rotted down). Pea gravel is good too if your ground will allow water to soak in underneath.

You wanted some pics, so here goes (any excuse, eh!

)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29243_dscf9109.jpg


This is my highly intelligent duck-herding chicken. She is trained to collie sheep-dog standards

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/29243_dscf9122.jpg

They will destroy it, by eating it, digging holes in it, and pooing all over it. I speak from experience!

Yeah..my ducks have dug a crater right in the path of me wheeling the barrow of hay to the horses 2 times a day, and 2 times a day I nearly break my darn neck falling in it

 

[Miss Lydia]

Love the herding chicken ejctm, and the ducks are cuties too, funny you should mention holes gofaststripe, I used to have some lovely flower beds till I got ducks with shovels, then chickens moved in so now I plant bushes, so far they haven't eaten them or dug them up [rather excavated them out.] Grass whats that? I put out rye grass during the snow hoping they wouldn't see it while it was covered, forgot the ground was frozen. Oh well I really didn't want grass anyway.

 

[NoseyChickens]

I have 7 runner ducks right now. Plus one in the brooder and 10 eggs in the bator. I will probably not keep all of the ducklings. I ordered them from Holderreads. They are amazing and healthy and lay daily. They sleep in a really big dog house at night and have the run of our property during the day. We have built them a 6x9 18in deep pond recently and they LOVE It. Before they were using kiddie pools. I used to keep them in a really big run, but I always ended up letting them out to roam so I just trained them to go in their house at night to be safe from predators. I love them, they are the funniest things on the planet and actually really friendly. My corgi likes to herd them from time to time and they take it well, like they are playing. Runners are a great breed.

 

[rgn87]

I read they have a nervous temperment, but the same sight said that Cayugas are very calm. I had Cayuga's and they were very scared all the time. So what I am trying to say is can Runners be coaxed to be friendly, you know like with peas.

 

[gofasterstripe]

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I use the word peas for everything, I gave them peas as 4 day olds mushed up in water and always told them PEAS...I use the word PEAS for bed time, for come here, for stop digging bigger holes..anything. Give them peas, tell them its peas and use the word for everything. Mine literally jump into the dog bowl of peas before it hits the ground. You will soon have friendly ducks

 

[FenDruadin]

Another option for your grass area is to fence it off and only give them part-time access. Holderread outlines plans for a tri-plex duck run in his book than includes a grassy area that the ducks have access to only during dry weather and when the grass is in good condition. Of course, the larger the grassy area, the better it will fare--if it's too small, even a single day of foraging on it could destroy it. Also, don't put water sources near the grass--they will quickly convert it to mud--as in, in a matter of hours.

Oh, and ten is definitely not enough. But it doesn't matter. However many you get this time, you will quickly learn that it is not how many you will end up with. It's called duck math. I just posted about duck math in another thread, but I can't take credit for the original idea--the idea of "chicken math" has been around for a while. Nevertheless, I took the liberty of posting an elaborated version of it to my blog (the link to it is in my sig line).

The same is true for your set-up--whatever you do, it will not be good enough a year from now when you've discovered all your mistakes and want to completely re-do everything.

So relax, enjoy, do the best you can, and don't sweat the rest.

 

[ejctm]

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Absolutely true - Such a wise old owl!!

OK, not old but you know what I mean!

 

[FenDruadin]

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Ha ha! Well, I suspect if you were to draw a bell curve for this board I would probably be on the "old" end of it... but I'm still young by 21st century standards at the spring chick age of 37, and anyway I've learned that being old is not something to be feared. I just hope I do in fact get the "wise" part that goes along with that!