Topic of the Week - Duck Housing

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PirateGirl said:
I have been debating whether or not to attach it to the chicken coop/run or have them totally separate. Why are your choosing to incorporate your duck housing with your chicken run?
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Mine are totally separate from the Chickens..My Ducks hate the Chickens..I have Call Ducks and then Huge Brahma and Orpington Hens..Almost lost a young Duck when a Huge Hen landed on her neck..They had escaped the fencing, the Chickens were loose and a Hen flew up in all the chasing and landed on her. Yikes!.. She is fine though..The one in my avatar..
 
chickens really said:
Another exciting Topic...:frow

I have Three Duck Houses.
One is a 10X10 covered Dog run with an insulated Dog house..Its great for my Ducks. It can easily House 6 standard sized Ducks or 10 Calls..

The other is a Chicken Coop that has the Coop up top and the run bellow..Coop is 4X4 and Run is 4X12 long.
That Houses up to 6 too.

Then I have a little prefab Coop/Run that is used as a nursery/ hospital or new intro pen.

I provide free range time as I am out with my Ducks daily if weather is good. In winter I have a Straw bed down in my Runs and in the Houses for them to keep feet warm. In summer all straw is removed and pine shavings are used in the Houses only...I also use sand as a floor in my Runs. I only provide kiddie pools in the runs that house the Ducklings. The Adult Birds get out to use the kiddie pools daily that are out in my yard.
I only run heat in my Coops if temps drop below -10C
Never too warm as my water freezes still.
I use rubber bowls so easy to knock out the ice.

Summer is way easier with Ducks. I spend hours outside as they free range.
Ducks are not for everyone..Although I can't imagine a life without the messy wreaking crew..:hugs
:wee
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Will ducks actually go up into a coop? I read they needed their housing closer to the ground?
Just asking. May need some ducks in my life in the future. :
:pop
 
Soon2BChixMom said:
Will ducks actually go up into a coop? I read they needed their housing closer to the ground?
Just asking. May need some ducks in my life in the future. :
:pop
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It takes training but yes they can and do Ramps very easily..Ducklings follow Momma right up into the nursery coop with no help...Yes...Ducks do ramps..
 
My muscovies aren't too keen on the chicken. It can seem like they are getting along, but then all of a sudden a duck (usually the drake) decides that a chicken is getting a bit too close, starts to huff and puff (muscovy keepers will know what I'm talking about) and then gives the chicken a nasty bite. Once, in a move both nasty, comic and a little sad, our newly-bought, handsome young Araucana rooster was walking along in front of our porch. As Aracaunas are prone to, our rooster was missing all tail feathers except two. And suddenly, I saw the drake's head slowly starting to poke out from under the porch, giving the rooster the ol' "huff n' puff", which is muscovy duck language for "get away from here, stranger..." The rooster neither saw nor heard the drake, and after a few seconds, the drake lunged out from under the porch and bit off one of the rooster's two tail feathers.

Months later, one could say the rooster got his revenge, when something both weird and more than a little scary happened; the drake, having wandered away from his hens and into a gathering of chickens, pecked at a chicken hen, whereupon the entire chicken flock fluffed up all their feathers and attacked the drake as one. The poor soul (or, maybe not so poor, one could say he deserved it) screamed and flew off. He didn't get badly beaten, since they were free ranging and he had plenty of space to get away... But one could see how things could turn ugly if the chickens were to be cooped up with the ducks.
 
My Muscovy females will even roost with the chickens but they have their own roost in the house they chose one and the chickens have the rest.
And if a chicken does get too close the scovy or Runner or Buff will let them know in no uncertain terms they are too close but mainly they all live pretty good together. The chickens have learned to respect the ducks space and mostly stay away. Even my 2 geese are okay around them as long as the chickens respect their space.
 
Hear are some things I have learned...

Ducks can use ramps but they prefer not to. If you are building from scratch, put the coop at ground level. If you must use a ramp, make it very wide, very long, and build in some sort of traction. Guard rails are good because ducks are not graceful on land.

You can provide a nest box. I use medium sized Rubbermaid type totes with holes cut in the sides. Sometimes they use them. Sometimes they lay in the coop bedding. Sometimes they lay outside under a bush or tree so you have to go out and search for eggs like it's Easter.

Ducks can be taught to use an automatic door and go inside at night. Some evenings they may miss the door closing and get stuck outside. Strangely enough it always seems to happen when the weather is nice. Weird. But that's okay because they will yell at you until you lift the door for them.

Ducks and chickens can be housed together as long as they have plenty of space to get away from each other. Lots of higher level spots makes things easier for the chickens.

Ducks like water. No really, they do. So planning for keeping water messes at a minimum and providing water in winter is key. Ducks can and do use vertical chicken nipples. Be prepared to change things up if it doesn't work. But that kind of applies to all aspects of duck keeping.
 

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