Topic of the Week - Duck Housing

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Henrik Petersson said:
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.
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I made that mistake with my drakes and one started sttacking the chickens and the other on started attacking the teenagers that I bought them with so now I learned my lesson: NEVER PUT DUCKS WITH CHICKENS NO MATTER WHAT! lol that was when I just got them
 
lomine said:
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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I know ducks can drink from vertical nipple waterers. But if no other water source is available to them it can cause problems. Ducks need to be able to dunk their heads in water to wash their eyes and nostrils and likely will not eat enough without enough water to wash food down. I acquired a duck recently who was a victim of this.
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check out the build up of duck snot :sick
 
Soon2BChixMom said:
Can you train them with treats to go in?
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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!
 
 
@hereorthere I really like the idea of a wide combined duck-door+ramp! Have any picks of your set-up to share?

I am trying to imagine if this could be tweaked slightly so that the full sized people door could still function, but in the lower half there would be an inset panel that could hinge outwards to become the ramp...
 

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