Topic of the Week - Duck Housing

[Hope Hughes]

I am also in the prosses of building a run/coop attached to the chicken run.
Could use some good ideas!!
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[LoverOfPeeps]

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 have seen a red fox trot off with a pekin that was twice his size, holding him horizontally with his teeth clenched, & prancing away effortlessly. I walked out just in time, chased him, screamed, & he dropped the duck.

 

[Lou LaRue]

Getting closer to being finished. The yard area just needs trim work to cover the seams of the hardware cloth. And some paint on the ramp for weather proofing.

 

[Henrik Petersson]

I just want to stress that my ducks are muscovy ducks, which are a different species (not just breed, but species) than the common duck (i.e. all breeds of domestic duck), and may well have different housing needs.

 

[Henrik Petersson]

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.

 

[lomine]

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.

 

[hereorthere]

Can you train them with treats to go in?

Yes, you can. It does take time and patience.

A big pile of treats just beyond the ramp inside the coop - had mix of scratch and thawed frozen peas. Also made sure I fed them at noon, so by evening their hunger was a good driving factor. Threw scratch at bottom of ramp to entice them; then as they almost finished eating it, threw a small handful onto ramp and up top of ramp. And kept throwing a very small amount at a time. Ramp was already widen and extra strips placed to prevent slippage was added.

It took time but no more than 7 days. Talking gently and small slow movement helped as my WH are skittish. The girls & the alpha boys picked up faster and would call out to the others to come join them inside. After finishing whatever food was in coop, the ramp would be blocked off at top and anyone left hanging out was grabbed with a big fishing net. Yeah, it was stressful on them and again that gentle talking was a big help. But at the end of the 7th day, I was really really surprised to find them all in there before the sun even finished setting, waiting for their bedtime snacks. And still consistent like that...they're all in the coop by 4:30-5pm now. Wish them goodnight and shut the door - easy peasy!

 

[onaharley]

I agree it looks really neat.

Thank you dear!!! The only down fall is that’s 6 foot in height.....and so am I.....I didn’t take into consideration that I would be putting 5-6 inches of shavings and straw down in the winter....

 

[PirateGirl]

I am inspired and my construction begins this afternoon. Keep the good ideas coming!

I have scavenged most materials the past week and just need to buy a box of screws/nails and another roll of fencing because my partial roll won't be enough.

 

[lomine]

Yep know exactly what you’re thinking....been playing with an idea of a split door. The bottom half would have a piano-type hinge on two pieces of plywood that mountain fold (like in origami) while the top half would flip out side wards like a regular door. Only problem would be hinges of ramp would prolly be the weakest point. And no, I don’t have any pics

Try looking for hinges made for horse trailer ramps. If it can stand up to horses it can hold you and ducks no problem.