Topic of the Week - Duck Housing

[Henrik Petersson]

I'm not scared one iota of predators. Our pen is impregnable to foxes and hawks, and no other predator is a threat to a duck in my part of my country. It's the frost I'm afraid of.

 

[Miss Lydia]

We just came through some really frigid temps and none of my Muscovy's got frost bite. 2 have had frost bite in past years so I am relieved they came through this fine. They did spend more time inside this year than in past years.

 

[Patrick McKee]

How many people here actually have foxes attacking their ducks? I have seen foxes trot less than ten feet from the ducks and neither of them paid any attention to each other. They eat the eggs, but have never attacked a duck. The ducks and foxes are about the same size, so I don't know if they're even capable of killing the ducks.

Do you just have a larger variety of foxes or what?

Well, we have Coyotes and Cougar in my area, both confirmed. One of the good and bad things about Texas wild.

My current design uses woven wire horse fence with 2"x4" grid buried 12 inches under the soil and connected to the same the horse fence material that is used for the walls as well. The entire 2x4 welded wire shell then gets an additional interior layer of 1 x 2 welded wire for the smaller predators.

I'm building my Ducks a big Faraday cage. The secure portion of their cage is only 8 x 16 feet. The additional fenced in area for daytime use is part of the paddock systems that I will be using to separate the small plot into smaller plots.

Did I mention the fishing line grid over our pond to keep the flying predators from attacking while they are playing? One of the BYC'ers here mentioned used CD's as reflectors to assist.

So, I am thinking, either my ducks take their chances or I take some precautions. Hopefully, whatever I do, it works.

 

[Conan]

I think jerk - off neighbors with poorly behaved dogs are the worst threat. Whenever you live away from town, people stop having fences, which is fine so long as your dogs are trained properly. We have had several neighbor dogs attack our birds - both chickens and ducks. Found one of my chickens in the dog's mouth, shot at him and he let go. She actually lived and is still alive to this day. I went to my neighbor and told him the next bullet would be in his dog's head if I saw any of them again. Never happened again and that was years ago. Had to do the same with another neighbor. Some folks are just awfully inconsiderate and don't realize that their friendly dog is a threat to livestock. Some folks just don't care. I'm VERY glad that I haven't had to shoot any dogs. Other than that, we have had mink attacks (lost a male duck) and we've seen coyotes and cougar.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I agree roaming dogs are worse than wild predators

 

[Conan]

Anyhow, the topic at hand - went down for evening chores and remembered my ancient cell phone. Apologies for the photo quality, but I think you can get the gist. Oh, and an action shot of the turds fleeing.

 

[Animal family]

Well, we have Coyotes and Cougar in my area, both confirmed. One of the good and bad things about Texas wild.

My current design uses woven wire horse fence with 2"x4" grid buried 12 inches under the soil and connected to the same the horse fence material that is used for the walls as well. The entire 2x4 welded wire shell then gets an additional interior layer of 1 x 2 welded wire for the smaller predators.

I'm building my Ducks a big Faraday cage. The secure portion of their cage is only 8 x 16 feet. The additional fenced in area for daytime use is part of the paddock systems that I will be using to separate the small plot into smaller plots.

Did I mention the fishing line grid over our pond to keep the flying predators from attacking while they are playing? One of the BYC'ers here mentioned used CD's as reflectors to assist.

So, I am thinking, either my ducks take their chances or I take some precautions. Hopefully, whatever I do, it works.

I put a wide grid chicken wire over my pond, keeps the big birds out but doesn’t harm songbirds. In the summer I put a sun shade over it.
I live in Colorado and we have all sorts of predators but here in town I worry about hawks, coyotes, foxes, stray dogs, and raccoons.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Anyhow, the topic at hand - went down for evening chores and remembered my ancient cell phone. Apologies for the photo quality, but I think you can get the gist. Oh, and an action shot of the turds fleeing.

Thanks for sharing - now I don't have to ask for pics!

 

[EverythingZen]

How many people here actually have foxes attacking their ducks? I have seen foxes trot less than ten feet from the ducks and neither of them paid any attention to each other. They eat the eggs, but have never attacked a duck. The ducks and foxes are about the same size, so I don't know if they're even capable of killing the ducks.

Do you just have a larger variety of foxes or what?

I'm not sure if we have a large variety, or what the risk actually is, to be honest. Neighbours have lost chickens to foxes, and our properties back onto a large reserve with acres of bush. I've got a gap in my back fence which urgently needs repairing, so any predator can get in. Just last month we lost a nest of duck eggs to a goanna or monitor lizard which didn't even seem afraid when I ran down to shoo it away. We've had a heatwave problem so lots of wild animals are desperate with food and water around here.

 

[EverythingZen]

Anyhow, the topic at hand - went down for evening chores and remembered my ancient cell phone. Apologies for the photo quality, but I think you can get the gist. Oh, and an action shot of the turds fleeing.

That's brilliant! I was wondering how to go about building something like that, so you're giving me lots of inspiration!

The enclosure they refuse to use is about 6' x 12' but isn't enclosed at the top, so they can actually fly out if we leave them locked in. I've got plans to secure the top with cat enclosure netting or wire. I thought it would be big enough for 3 muscovies? Excuse the mess, they and the kids have no respect for a tidy yard!