What size coop & yard for ducks?

steve hartzler

Hatching
Apr 25, 2020
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We have a chicken coop that is about 15' by 30'. It's divided into 2 equal sized rooms with a connecting door. It has high ceilings, roosts on opposite walls and 12 raised nesting boxes. It wasn't designed for ducks, obviously, but I'm guessing it'll work. But how many ducks can be comfortably housed in it? And then what size yard would that many ducks need? We don't want to completely free-range, but we want enough space so that it'll remained grassed. I paced off the area we're thinking of, and the perimeter was 450'. We could expand that another 150' or more if coop can accommodate enough ducks to warrant it. Thanks again in advance!
 
14*29=406. So you have about 400 sqft of floor space to work with. Ducks need 4-6 sqft each. I know from experience that 4 works for light breeds (runners, campbells, etc...), and I assume that 6 would work with the heavy breeds (pekin, etc...).

Thus, based on square footage, you could have approximately 100 small ducks or 67 large ducks. If you are unfamiliar with ducks I would not start with so many. You could start with 20 ducks and each year increase your flock until you get to whatever capacity you and your building can actually handle.

As for the lawn.... if you want to keep a lawn you need far fewer ducks. You might be able to pull it off if you never allow them to go outside with the ground is damp. Ducks will turn damp ground into a wallow. It also depends on the breed. My runners are destroying the lawn to get bugs and whatever, while my Pekins seem to just focus on eating pellets.
 
Thanks, that's very helpful. I don't expect to start with more than 12 or 15 at the most. We just want enough eggs for our own use with some to give to friends.
 

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