Will ducks walk thru a plastic wind barrier on the coop?

[ekdesign1]

First of all, we are newbs to ducks, or anything besides a dog, so we are learning as we go along.

We have 2 ducks and a drake inside the converted dog house, and on one side I have the door removed so they can come and go into their enclosed shelter.

But, to reduce wind I wanted to hang a piece of plastic (think white trash bag) over the opening and put slits from top to bottom.

Do you think they will still go thru it to get their food, or will they be too afraid to push thru?

Yeah I know I can build it and see what happens, but I hate to waste the time right now...I beginning to build a laying box to place inside the dog house/coop.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Miss Lydia]

First of all, we are newbs to ducks, or anything besides a dog, so we are learning as we go along.

We have 2 ducks and a drake inside the converted dog house, and on one side I have the door removed so they can come and go into their enclosed shelter.

But, to reduce wind I wanted to hang a piece of plastic (think white trash bag) over the opening and put slits from top to bottom.

Do you think they will still go thru it to get their food, or will they be too afraid to push thru?

Yeah I know I can build it and see what happens, but I hate to waste the time right now...I beginning to build a laying box to place inside the dog house/coop.

Thanks for any input.

I did it with a cheap car floor mat for the chickens pop door. and they used it, can't say about ducks mine would probably be pretty wary of it. One thing you didn't mention was if you lock your ducks inside at night for protection and just want this for daytime use.

 

[ekdesign1]

Yeah, I'm not sure my ducks would push thru a floor mat, but that is a good idea. If they learn to get thru lighter plastic then maybe I can upgrade to that too. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yeah, I'm not sure my ducks would push thru a floor mat, but that is a good idea. If they learn to get thru lighter plastic then maybe I can upgrade to that too. Thanks for the idea.

I cut slits into the floor mat it was clear too so they can see through to the other side.

 

[ekdesign1]

Well the first night didn't go so well with the plastic up. They freaked out when they went into the coop. I had to move some of the strips out of the way so they could see their food on the other side. Hopefully I can introduce more of it closed each night over the next week or so.

 

[Amiga]

Just a protective duck mom, here.

What is keeping the bloodthirsty predators away from the ducks?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just a protective duck mom, here.

What is keeping the bloodthirsty predators away from the ducks?

Good question Amiga, the plastic over my chicken pop door is on the inside and a hard door that closes and locks on the outside, Hopefully the OP has the same kind of set up.

 

[ekdesign1]

The plastic is only for the door inside the long covered area. The outside door is only open during the day when we are home. Otherwise, they are locked down inside the coop and long covered area.

Since this inside door is open for them I merely wanted a soft wind break until winter when the entire enclosure will have a wind break around it.

Hope that clears it up a little.

 

[Miss Lydia]

The plastic is only for the door inside the long covered area. The outside door is only open during the day when we are home. Otherwise, they are locked down inside the coop and long covered area.

Since this inside door is open for them I merely wanted a soft wind break until winter when the entire enclosure will have a wind break around it.

Hope that clears it up a little.

bunch of worry worts here.

 

[ekdesign1]

Well I hung a piece of trash bag (white) down to cover the opening, with slits in it so that it was almost too flippy in the air to even work, and guess what? They were so freaked out by it they went nuts in the coop the first time I rousted them thru the other door. I had to take it down a little while later to get them out to their food.

I tried it another day with a small space in it so they could see their food on the other side of it, and they eventually went out to eat. But, they refused to go back into the coop and would have stayed outside all night if I let them.

So, NO, they will not accept the plastic wind break over the open door.

Oh well, just a little more work for me to make sure they are out of the wind on cold days...gotta make 'em go inside even if they don't want to. So much like children, it's not even funny.