1. I'm planning on making the ducks an outside house that is around 2'x2'x4' or 4'x4'x4' with a small run attached. How would I ventilate the house besides the door to the run?
Incorporate a strip along the top of the back wall, or both sides, about 4 inches wide just below the roof. Cover it in hardware cloth for security. If you add a window for additional light, be sure that the window can be closed off the winter, but the venting up top stays open.
2. How many ducks should I start out with or how many could I fit in the smallest house size listed above?
2 In the smallest, 4 in the largest.
3. I plan on having either a dirt or plywood floor. Would this work as long as I keep the food and water in the run outside the house?
Dirt floor will stink something awful. You can cover the wood with a solid piece of linoleum or bathroom wall sheeting. (the sheeting comes in 4x8 sheets)
4. I live in Wisconsin, so there's very cold winters. How would I keep the water warm/not frozen if it stays outside?
It would be wise to build a drinking station onto the house, that has a wire floor. The waste water will fall through the wire and keep the house dry. You can then also use a heat base to keep it thawed, if you can get power out there. Otherwise you'll be toting warm water in buckets 5 times a day, if you can't find a way to heat it.
5. Which breed would be best to start out with? I like the look of the Golden Layer ducks and the Cayuga ducks.
Whichever breed you like.
6. Even though this doesn't have to do with ducks, would guinea fowls be a good fit for the housing I described? I like how they can be used for laying and also are good 'watchdogs.'
Guineas are good watch dogs because they're loud and obnoxious. That's all... they do not scare anything away. If your ducks are cooped and inside a secure run, they do not need a watch dog. Really their purpose is to sound an alarm for free range fowl so that they all take cover. There is a learning curve, the other fowl have to learn what those sounds mean.
7. Is it possible to house guinea fowls and ducks together? I wouldn't mind using the guinea fowls to 'watch over' my ducks during the day.
Ducks do a good job of watching over themselves, mine even keep an eye on airplanes flying over. A secure run though will protect them better than anything. You won't have the space for guineas in either of the houses you described, they are happiest roosting as high as they can get. Ducks also make their water filthy, so unless you had elevated water for flying birds, they wouldn't have access to clean water like they need.
8. What do I need to have inside of the ducks house? Could I have seperate little boxes with 3 sides covered? I would fill these with some bedding.
In a small house I wouldn't clutter up the ground space with boxes. I would leave it open and let them nest where they will, unless you plan on building next box extensions on the outside where you can retrieve eggs. You want bedding in there, pine shavings are good and absorbent.
9. Would shredded newspaper be an acceptable form of bedding?
Yuck, no. Since ducks drink a lot of water, they poop a lot of water. You will find it soggy enough to make paper mache' and super stinky too.
10. Even though many ducks don't deficate inside their home, how would I clean the feces out if I have a dirt or plywood floor in the house?
Ducks poop where ever they are standing. They're birds, so it isn't a controllable function for them. If you're going to build a small house, make the roof or one complete side where it can open up and give you full access. You build it large enough for you to walk inside. You can then get in there with a shovel, rake, and hose. Depends on your bedding choice and how many ducks you squeeze in there. I have 14 ducks with a 8x5 indoor space. What's been working well is scooping out the obvious poo and the wet spot with it, then stirring the remaining bedding with a rake, adding a little fresh, and being done for another day. I throw out about a 5 gallon bucket worth of soiled bedding. If it were newspaper or straw, a LOT more would have to come out. I don't think you could supply enough newspaper to keep things clean and dry.
11. Which online site would you recommend ordering from/do you order online at all?
I went with Holderreads for the breed and quality I wanted. Metzer is good too for the small orders and breed selection, and the fact that they sex them. I had to buy 10 unsexed and hope for the best. Luckily I ended up with 4 boys and 6 girls.
When I had 5 babies, they went through 1 gallon of water per day as soon as they were 2 weeks old. Now until some of mine leave, the larger number is going through 5 gallons a day. So if you have 4, you can expect the adults to go through 1 gallon per day minimum. Most of it they splash out. On dirt, this makes quite the mud pit. Then they poop in it. Yum, stinky mud pit.
They mix their food with the water no matter how far apart you place it. They then dribble the mixture in a 2ft area around the food/water.
What would work good for you is an enclosed food/water station built onto the house, with a wire bottom. Put gravel below that wire. Then have one for outside as well, weather permitting since the water would freeze. Unless you did a little 3 sided shelter with a wire bottom, allowing you to place a heated base on it.
They need access to water deep enough to clean their noses out in. This could be something small like a cat litter pan (that will hold 2 ducks in it, 3 if they position themselves right) or a baby pool they can actually swim in.
You didn't say what size run you were going to do. But they need 10 sq ft each of outside space to be happy and have freedom of movement. So for 4 ducks, you're looking at 4x10 minimum. Add more if you're adding a pool.
They are VERY, VERY messy. Water management is key to keeping it neat and as dry as possible. Good drainage, and controlling what they can do with waste water. The good news is that their poo is easily hosed away because of how wet it is. There isn't any scraping really, just blast it away if you have the drainage handled. So, gravel and hard surfaces make duck keeping simple. Placing the drinking water on wire means they can't make a complete mess of it.
Incorporate a strip along the top of the back wall, or both sides, about 4 inches wide just below the roof. Cover it in hardware cloth for security. If you add a window for additional light, be sure that the window can be closed off the winter, but the venting up top stays open.
2. How many ducks should I start out with or how many could I fit in the smallest house size listed above?
2 In the smallest, 4 in the largest.
3. I plan on having either a dirt or plywood floor. Would this work as long as I keep the food and water in the run outside the house?
Dirt floor will stink something awful. You can cover the wood with a solid piece of linoleum or bathroom wall sheeting. (the sheeting comes in 4x8 sheets)
4. I live in Wisconsin, so there's very cold winters. How would I keep the water warm/not frozen if it stays outside?
It would be wise to build a drinking station onto the house, that has a wire floor. The waste water will fall through the wire and keep the house dry. You can then also use a heat base to keep it thawed, if you can get power out there. Otherwise you'll be toting warm water in buckets 5 times a day, if you can't find a way to heat it.
5. Which breed would be best to start out with? I like the look of the Golden Layer ducks and the Cayuga ducks.
Whichever breed you like.
6. Even though this doesn't have to do with ducks, would guinea fowls be a good fit for the housing I described? I like how they can be used for laying and also are good 'watchdogs.'
Guineas are good watch dogs because they're loud and obnoxious. That's all... they do not scare anything away. If your ducks are cooped and inside a secure run, they do not need a watch dog. Really their purpose is to sound an alarm for free range fowl so that they all take cover. There is a learning curve, the other fowl have to learn what those sounds mean.
7. Is it possible to house guinea fowls and ducks together? I wouldn't mind using the guinea fowls to 'watch over' my ducks during the day.
Ducks do a good job of watching over themselves, mine even keep an eye on airplanes flying over. A secure run though will protect them better than anything. You won't have the space for guineas in either of the houses you described, they are happiest roosting as high as they can get. Ducks also make their water filthy, so unless you had elevated water for flying birds, they wouldn't have access to clean water like they need.
8. What do I need to have inside of the ducks house? Could I have seperate little boxes with 3 sides covered? I would fill these with some bedding.
In a small house I wouldn't clutter up the ground space with boxes. I would leave it open and let them nest where they will, unless you plan on building next box extensions on the outside where you can retrieve eggs. You want bedding in there, pine shavings are good and absorbent.
9. Would shredded newspaper be an acceptable form of bedding?
Yuck, no. Since ducks drink a lot of water, they poop a lot of water. You will find it soggy enough to make paper mache' and super stinky too.
10. Even though many ducks don't deficate inside their home, how would I clean the feces out if I have a dirt or plywood floor in the house?
Ducks poop where ever they are standing. They're birds, so it isn't a controllable function for them. If you're going to build a small house, make the roof or one complete side where it can open up and give you full access. You build it large enough for you to walk inside. You can then get in there with a shovel, rake, and hose. Depends on your bedding choice and how many ducks you squeeze in there. I have 14 ducks with a 8x5 indoor space. What's been working well is scooping out the obvious poo and the wet spot with it, then stirring the remaining bedding with a rake, adding a little fresh, and being done for another day. I throw out about a 5 gallon bucket worth of soiled bedding. If it were newspaper or straw, a LOT more would have to come out. I don't think you could supply enough newspaper to keep things clean and dry.
11. Which online site would you recommend ordering from/do you order online at all?
I went with Holderreads for the breed and quality I wanted. Metzer is good too for the small orders and breed selection, and the fact that they sex them. I had to buy 10 unsexed and hope for the best. Luckily I ended up with 4 boys and 6 girls.
When I had 5 babies, they went through 1 gallon of water per day as soon as they were 2 weeks old. Now until some of mine leave, the larger number is going through 5 gallons a day. So if you have 4, you can expect the adults to go through 1 gallon per day minimum. Most of it they splash out. On dirt, this makes quite the mud pit. Then they poop in it. Yum, stinky mud pit.
They mix their food with the water no matter how far apart you place it. They then dribble the mixture in a 2ft area around the food/water.
What would work good for you is an enclosed food/water station built onto the house, with a wire bottom. Put gravel below that wire. Then have one for outside as well, weather permitting since the water would freeze. Unless you did a little 3 sided shelter with a wire bottom, allowing you to place a heated base on it.
They need access to water deep enough to clean their noses out in. This could be something small like a cat litter pan (that will hold 2 ducks in it, 3 if they position themselves right) or a baby pool they can actually swim in.
You didn't say what size run you were going to do. But they need 10 sq ft each of outside space to be happy and have freedom of movement. So for 4 ducks, you're looking at 4x10 minimum. Add more if you're adding a pool.
They are VERY, VERY messy. Water management is key to keeping it neat and as dry as possible. Good drainage, and controlling what they can do with waste water. The good news is that their poo is easily hosed away because of how wet it is. There isn't any scraping really, just blast it away if you have the drainage handled. So, gravel and hard surfaces make duck keeping simple. Placing the drinking water on wire means they can't make a complete mess of it.
