What was your budget/start up cost for raising ducks?

[ambrose]

How much did you spend on brooder stuff?
How much did you spend on building a house/run?
How much did/do you spend on feed?
How much did/do you spend on hay/shavings/etc.?
Anything else I'm forgetting, ah yes,
How much did you spend on ducklings? (OK, that's the only one I've got a good projected calculation on for myself)
Curious also about incubator set ups, but probably won't go ther.

Did you at some point "break even" on ducks in terms of eggs, meat or breeding?

We need to do a good job on a run here given the local racoons, and I'm wondering just how much the run is going to run me!

 

[Kevin565]

How much did you spend on brooder stuff?
Around 60 bucks

How much did you spend on building a house/run?

About 400
How much did/do you spend on feed?
15 a month
How much did/do you spend on hay/shavings/etc.?

Maybe 10 a month
Anything else I'm forgetting, ah yes,

How much did you spend on ducklings? (OK, that's the only one I've got a good projected calculation on for myself)

I spent 10 for 2 ducklings

Curious also about incubator set ups, but probably won't go ther.

Did you at some point "break even" on ducks in terms of eggs, meat or breeding?

Not even close but I love what I do and wouldn't change it for anything

We need to do a good job on a run here given the local racoons, and I'm wondering just how much the run is going to run me!

 

[OldGuy43]

How much did you spend on brooder stuff?
Under $20.00. It was mostly stuff I already had around.
How much did you spend on building a house/run?
Under $10.00 Scrap lumber. Bought some hinges and other hardware.
How much did/do you spend on feed?
Under $15.00. They're now 4 weeks old and went through 50#. Just bought another bag.
How much did/do you spend on hay/shavings/etc.?
Under $50.00. Pine shavings and puppy training pads.
Anything else I'm forgetting, ah yes,
The water bill. They use a lot of water.
How much did you spend on ducklings? (OK, that's the only one I've got a good projected calculation on for myself)
About $60.00 for 12.
Curious also about incubator set ups, but probably won't go ther.
Didn't do that so, nothing.

Did you at some point "break even" on ducks in terms of eggs, meat or breeding?
Not yet but expect to.

We need to do a good job on a run here given the local racoons, and I'm wondering just how much the run is going to run me!
Doesn't need to cost a lot. An electric fence solves a lot of problems.

Hope this helps. If you're creative and a scrounger it doesn't need to cost a lot.

 

[Tivona]

Quote:

How much did you spend on brooder stuff?
Probably under $20...brooder light, chick grit, duckling feed, the rest I had
How much did you spend on building a house/run?
Around $20...got two good runs free. Already had housing acceptable or materials to make housing(dog house, scrap lumber, some giant plastic bins) Only needed to buy wire for across the top of one of the pens.
How much did/do you spend on feed?
I got 50lbs for $18 of a good waterfowl grower feed.
Currently I feed a 50lbs waterfowl @ $17.49... and 50lbs layer pellet @ $15.29 ...as well as oyster shell @$11.19 for 50lbs and 10lbs of hen grit @ $5.90
50lbs layer pellet last my 11 ducks and 2 geese 1 month, the 50lbs waterfowl feed last my birds about 40 days. Oyster shell and grit last ummm like maybe half a year or more...
I am currently getting about 8 eggs per day. I also let my adult birds free range in a fenced in area, eating grass and bugs and worms and whatnot. Saves quite a bit on feed.
How much did/do you spend on hay/shavings/etc.?
I have a neighbor who grows hay...so umm sorta free with helping them from time to time. Except I should include sand here for the pen floor. I can't remember for sure but I think $50?
Anything else I'm forgetting, ah yes,
How much did you spend on ducklings? (OK, that's the only one I've got a good projected calculation on for myself)
$3.50 each for my first 8 (bought from a local friend) then I got 2 adults free then got 5 for about $7.50 each except I paid partly in eggs to the person making the order so less...
Curious also about incubator set ups, but probably won't go ther.

Did you at some point "break even" on ducks in terms of eggs, meat or breeding?
I feel I have. I ate one bad drake. Sold 2 as adults. Sold some of the eggs and I would be buying organic eggs so yeah I feel I have done well.
We need to do a good job on a run here given the local racoons, and I'm wondering just how much the run is going to run me!
Raccoons are horrible. I lost some birds to them in the past, getting in one spot where the door didn't quite seal well enough, leaving a fist sized hole due to a curved door and a squarer frame (chain link dog kennel originally). With checking craigslist, local papers, second hand stores, and friends you can put together a pretty good coop/run with little cost. Not quite as pretty but safe. The one thing to make sure is that there are no weak spots or holes around the doors, etc. I also recommend boards or wire or something at the edge of the coop to help prevent digging creatures. Each year I make some improvements and it looks better but still cost very little.

Don't worry about making everything perfect with the best materials when you start. Just be sure its safe and comfortable for them. Ducks really don't care if its stylish as long as its safe weather proof and big enough to run around in. Even if you do use scraps of lumber such as wood from pallets it can still be made better latter or cuter with plastic lattice (the wood lattice breaks to easy).

 

[wildpeas]

How much did you spend on brooder stuff?
$75 or so, I didn't have anything, started completely from scratch
How much did you spend on building a house/run?
$400 or around there and we still need fencing, gates, covered eating area, house doors, shingles and gutter. Then there will be more fencing for the orchard.
How much did/do you spend on feed?
$18 for 50 lbs of Flockraiser.
How much did/do you spend on hay/shavings/etc.?
$7 for pine shavings
Anything else I'm forgetting, ah yes,
My power bill went up.
How much did you spend on ducklings? (OK, that's the only one I've got a good projected calculation on for myself)
I paid $10 per duckling, I have 8 now
Curious also about incubator set ups, but probably won't go ther.

Did you at some point "break even" on ducks in terms of eggs, meat or breeding?
I haven't even considered this, we have ducks for pleasure and for baking(eggs), we will give the extras away to our neighbor and farrier.

We need to do a good job on a run here given the local racoons, and I'm wondering just how much the run is going to run me!

My husband likes to overbuild things, so we will be more than $600 by the time everything is done. I know it can all be done for half that cost but I like to keep him happy.

 

[ambrose]

My husband likes to overbuild things, so we will be more than $600 by the time everything is done. I know it can all be done for half that cost but I like to keep him happy.

Hey, if that makes him happy, send him down here to Portland!

Mine's supportive of the idea (in fact he started it) but so not the handyman type.

But seriously, would love to see pics when it's finished. $600 or so was my back-of-the-napkin guestimation.

 

[Tahai]

How much did you spend on brooder stuff? About $60. I had a large tub on hand, so didn't need to buy a containment unit of any kind. 5 gallon waterer was the most expensive item, at $30.

How much did you spend on building a house/run? I'll probably spend $100 adding a water porch to the old hen house. The hen house is about 20 years old, so cost would be vastly different from when we built it to now. Probably spent $200 on it in the early 90's.

How much did/do you spend on feed? Just getting started, but from Metzer's feed calculator, it looks like I'll need about 100 lbs a month for 14 adult ducks. The feed I intend to use is $16/50 lb. Oyster shell is cheap here. Feed store buys it in bulk and portions it out. Brewer's yeast is $ 15 for a big container.


How much did/do you spend on hay/shavings/etc.? About $10

Anything else I'm forgetting, ah yes,
How much did you spend on ducklings? (OK, that's the only one I've got a good projected calculation on for myself) About $80 for 14 ducks from Holderreads.

Don't forget fencing. I spent 200 on electric poultry net fencing from Kencove, and will spend about 75 on a fencer

Curious also about incubator set ups, but probably won't go ther.

Did you at some point "break even" on ducks in terms of eggs, meat or breeding?

We need to do a good job on a run here given the local racoons, and I'm wondering just how much the run is going to run me!

 

[wildpeas]

Hey, if that makes him happy, send him down here to Portland!

Mine's supportive of the idea (in fact he started it) but so not the handyman type.

But seriously, would love to see pics when it's finished. $600 or so was my back-of-the-napkin guestimation.

I am glad he is handy but it does drive me crazy sometimes. I'm all into nice but simple and he's into nice and honkin monster built.

I'll post pictures when its done, hopefully soon.

 

[Johnson5326]

How much did you spend on brooder stuff?
Don't have any, bought ducklings at TSC
How much did you spend on building a house/run?
About $30 to add chicken wire around the unused dog pen that was supposed to be just for the rabbit
How much did/do you spend on feed?
About $10
How much did/do you spend on hay/shavings/etc.?
$5 hay bail
Anything else I'm forgetting, ah yes,
How much did you spend on ducklings? (OK, that's the only one I've got a good projected calculation on for myself)
Curious also about incubator set ups, but probably won't go ther.
$4 each

Budget

I grew up with animals and have been in this little house with only 2 acres for almost 9 years now (I just wanna go home to my 400 acres but this housing market

). I got my son a rabbit last month because we're holding off on getting a dog (we live on a busy main highway) and we have small birds in the house so cats won't do. I hate seeing rabbits in guinea pig or other tiny cages and he stinks anyway. So I decided to put chicken wire around the bottom of the dog kennel and cover it. It had a large dog kennel in it, and I put a dog house and crate in so he could decide where to go. I covered the ground and inside of the kennels and everything in hay.

Well, I decided a while back I wanted some chickens to have eggs all the time because we eat them pretty much daily. When I went to pick up the wire I saw the 6 chick minimum and my other half just shot down the idea. So I asked him if he thoughts ducks would be better. I don't think he realized they had them there. I was in love with them at 1st sight. Then, I needed to decide which ones. There were mallards and straight runs in 1 container and pekins in another. So, I got 2 of each hoping they were pairs. These are my 1st pet ducks so I didn't really know what I was doing. I had done a little research online but had very basic knowledge. I left with the 4 ducks, 2 feeders/waterers, and a starter bag of feed. My son was thrilled to say the least.

The next day we had to go back for something. My son was with me and wanted to see where his new babies came from so I held him up. There was this tiny duckling that was darker than the rest and a crested one. So, we took them home too. I had a kiddie pool already and we had just finished filling in the 13'x7'x2' deep pond we dug together too. So, we have 6 ducklings and a rabbit all living together in the dog pen (they go in the laundry room at night). When the ducks get a little bigger they will be free range in the yard (the whole yard is fenced too) to keep the insect population down a bit and hopefully the mosquitos out of the pond. Then we'll have the eggs and hopefully next spring we'll have more babies.

Here's what it looks like:


This is before I cleaned it last week. Oh, the rabbit has decided to live in the bucket after knocking it over and we'll be adding a "duck house" later this summer.

 

[Johnson5326]

Oh, the back 1/2 of the roof is covered with tin that came from a barn we tore down and to the left of the picture I have a little ditch dug that runs to some cabbage, pumpkins, and beans. When I drain the pool everyday it runs there and they are looking great.