Show me your duck coops!

[Tooshay89]

I want to see your duck coops!

I've been researching for weeks, and I'm trying to see what works best for ducks as far as housing. Google isn't helping much. I've been raising chickens for a few years, and I'm planning on setting some Welsh Harlequin and Saxony duck eggs in March. My chickens have an 8x10 walk in coop, and they have a large run (I think it's 50 ft x 50 ft? Maybe a little bigger. We have 10 acres so they free range often - typically all day most days, but this winter we've had issues with hawks so they're confined to their run for the time being unless we're outside doing farm chores. Hopefully in the spring, the hawks won't be as desperate. Anyway, I'd like to figure out how to construct a duck coop next to the chicken run, so that during the times they're confined, they can share that large space. I'm only planning on keeping 3-4 ducks, females only. I typically have about 20-25 chickens at any given time. We lost a few in the last month due to hawks. I really dislike hawks... but I'm getting off topic again. So yeah, what do you think would work? A small 4x8 duck coop? A massive walk in fortress of duck doom? Show me your setup!

 

[DuckyDonna]

Ok, so you asked for it! My husband and I made the best duck run ever. After dealing with death by falcon and a few other issues he decided we were going to have the "mac-daddy" run. It's about 40' x 40'. Hardware cloth all on the sides and welded wire on the top.

this is a drone view from above

 

[Tooshay89]

Ok, so you asked for it! My husband and I made the best duck run ever. After dealing with death by falcon and a few other issues he decided we were going to have the "mac-daddy" run. It's about 40' x 40'. Hardware cloth all on the sides and welded wire on the top.
View attachment 2006678
this is a drone view from above
View attachment 2006679

Wow, that's awesome! I have something similar in size, but I don't have a welded wire roof. I wish we could have done a top like yours though! We went with a strong commercial grade netting because our run has trees inside of it. We're in Florida so it's beyond hot most of the year, and the chickens appreciate the deep shade.

Do you have a coop within your run? I see you have a kiddie pool in there, have you had decent luck keeping the surrounding area dry? I'm still trying to figure out the best way to have a water source for the ducks without it being an issue for the chickens.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Oh, I think yours is great! It is so similar to ours it's crazy! You're isn't as wide so I bet the netting works just fine. As far as the pool goes. I'm always trying new things. Since that picture was taken I put landscape cloth under where the pool goes, then hay on top of that and elevated the pool just on some 4 x 4 chunks of wood we had left over from the renovation with some scrap crappy plywood on top of that for the pool to sit on. It has cut down on the sludge/mud/whatever in the pool about 99%.

So, since it's working so good we are taking it further. My husband has resined and fiberglassed a full sheet of plywood (we used to own a charter fishing boat in Fl so we had all the supplies and he knows how to fiberglass) that we will put the bigger pool on in the spring. The landscape cloth is great, it can be some of that soil erosion cloth or whatever it's called too. Nothing fancy just something that they can't get through to the mud.

When we do the big pool he's going to do a raised platform and put a ball valve coming out from the bottom of the pool so I'll be able to hook it to a hose or pipe and direct it to my raised bed and blueberry bushes that are in the run. You can't see them in this picture but they are to the left. That way all the poopy water can go right into my sweet potatoes and blueberries!

 

[DuckyDonna]

Oh, I forgot to tell you, I have 2 pens inside of our run and we have room to make another which will probably happen before summer. So I have 4 young ones that march into the smaller pen and the 7 older ones go into their bigger pen every night. It's awesome how they know to do that.

 

[DucksOhio]

Ok, so you asked for it! My husband and I made the best duck run ever. After dealing with death by falcon and a few other issues he decided we were going to have the "mac-daddy" run. It's about 40' x 40'. Hardware cloth all on the sides and welded wire on the top.
View attachment 2006678
this is a drone view from above
View attachment 2006679

That’s impressive!!

 

[Tooshay89]

Oh, I forgot to tell you, I have 2 pens inside of our run and we have room to make another which will probably happen before summer. So I have 4 young ones that march into the smaller pen and the 7 older ones go into their bigger pen every night. It's awesome how they know to do that.

So they WILL go into a coop or pen at night once trained like chickens do? Do you have to call them in, or will they go in at dusk on their own? I'd feel a lot better if they were in a completely predator proof place overnight. We don't have a ton of big predators, but I see raccoon tracks in the sand around the coop and in front of our goat barn every single night. Our coop is Fort Knox, as well as the barn, so he's not getting in, but he sure does like to skulk around. We just purchased a camera system for the coop and barn, so I'm anxious to see him on camera.

For our run, we bought this 50 ft by 50 ft aviary netting which actually worked out pretty well. I was terrified that it wouldn't be big enough because our run is also 50x50, but it's stretchy so it covered everything, and we even had spare pieces to cut off and use to secure a little extra around where we had to cut slits for the trees.

You'll have to let me know how the duck pond project goes. I'm going to put the duck pen next to my garden beds, and it would be great to be able to water our fruit trees or raised beds with the old water from time to time.

 

[DuckyDonna]

So they WILL go into a coop or pen at night once trained like chickens do? Do you have to call them in, or will they go in at dusk on their own? I'd feel a lot better if they were in a completely predator proof place overnight. We don't have a ton of big predators, but I see raccoon tracks in the sand around the coop and in front of our goat barn every single night. Our coop is Fort Knox, as well as the barn, so he's not getting in, but he sure does like to skulk around. We just purchased a camera system for the coop and barn, so I'm anxious to see him on camera.

For our run, we bought this 50 ft by 50 ft aviary netting which actually worked out pretty well. I was terrified that it wouldn't be big enough because our run is also 50x50, but it's stretchy so it covered everything, and we even had spare pieces to cut off and use to secure a little extra around where we had to cut slits for the trees.

You'll have to let me know how the duck pond project goes. I'm going to put the duck pen next to my garden beds, and it would be great to be able to water our fruit trees or raised beds with the old water from time to time.

I go out every night before dark to change and clean the water buckets and bail out the pool and refill it. If it's not quite dark enough for them to want to go in I'll do my chores and sit with them a while until I get ready to go back to the house. My barn is a long way from the house so I don't like going back and forth too much unless I have to. If I'm late getting out there they are usually already in their pens. If they're not all I do is say "time to go nite nite" and they march into their pens. The 4 young ones split off and go into the small pen and the other 7 go right into theirs. I don't even have to herd them. They just know!

I don't blame you for wanting to lock them up in a secure pen at night. I think raccoons would be able to get through that netting if they wanted to. They're pretty smart animals.

 

[Tooshay89]

I go out every night before dark to change and clean the water buckets and bail out the pool and refill it. If it's not quite dark enough for them to want to go in I'll do my chores and sit with them a while until I get ready to go back to the house. My barn is a long way from the house so I don't like going back and forth too much unless I have to. If I'm late getting out there they are usually already in their pens. If they're not all I do is say "time to go nite nite" and they march into their pens. The 4 young ones split off and go into the small pen and the other 7 go right into theirs. I don't even have to herd them. They just know!

I don't blame you for wanting to lock them up in a secure pen at night. I think raccoons would be able to get through that netting if they wanted to. They're pretty smart animals.

That's so funny that they know which coop they're supposed to go to! I like to have every animal on my farm secured in a coop or barn at night that way I know they're safe. And you're right, I think if I had a chicken or duck actually out in the run at night, a predator would have more of a drive to try and get in. Since the chickens are in their coop all night, all he can do now is walk around and think about how he'd like a nice chicken dinner.

 

[Ratchnick]

This is not me but for a small number of ducks this is the way to go in my opinion.