Will this work as duck housing?

[Rainbow Advaya]

I am thinking about getting a few ducks, probably khaki campbells because of their egg laying ablity. I was considering putting the ducks in with my chickens at night to secure them since there would be plenty of room left for them, but we dumpster dived this rather large dog house:

Will this work for ducks? I am debating on putting a door on it using a framed in piece of hardware cloth. Hinge the door on the left, and secure it with bolts and such to keep out preditors.

How many will it hold if I coop them in it only at night? What are their requirements for overnight in this; it's small enough that if they need a lot of water or food overnight it might not work.

They will be free ranging when I'm home, but I'm debating on sectioning off an area inside the chicken coop and putting the duck house in that section. That way they could have at least a bit of room outside on days when I'm working. Otherwise they'd have to share the entire run with the chickens and that sounds messy but I might have to do that if I find sectioning it off isn't feasible.

I would like to keep the run as dry as possible though if they do end up sharing the run. They will have access to swimming water OUTSIDE the chicken run either way. Is there a way to keep the chicken's drinking water clean and share the run? I was thinking a nipple type waterer might work, but that leaves the question unanswered of how to keep the ducks from splashing their own water everywhere. Any suggestions?

I'm new to chickens, but newer to ducks, although I did briefly have a pekin duck growing up (my dad rehomed him). He lived on my dad's pond and only came up to see us occasionally. He had a coop but never used it, so I have no real experience with ducks to speak of.

Unless this is somehow magically ideal housing, it won't be permanent. But it could be somewhat longterm, so keep that in mind in helping me.

Thank you so much!

 

[duckyfromoz]

With a litle spruce up that dog house could make a safe night pen for three ducks comfortably.. However I would suggest that they do need water at night - especially during the hotter months of the year.

A nipple type waterer is great for chickens..But ducks need to be able to put their whole heads into water to keep there eyes and nostrils clean.- Yes they are messy- and there is nothing you can do to "stop" the mess- but there are ways to reduce it. Having a swimming pool outside the main run will help to keep mess limited.

 

[chickensioux]

Quote:
I agree with this. It definately needs some sort of door that will close them up safely at night so no predators can get them. They don't need fancy, just safe.

 

[Rainbow Advaya]

Wonderful! My project then is to stain the exterior to prevent it from rotting so quickly, possibly put some shingles on the room, and build the door. Then order 3 ducklings!! I can't wait. I miss having a duck around.

 

[Rainbow Advaya]

Oh, also, is there a waterer about that a duck could stick it's head into, but not it's whole body? Maybe that would help with the mess in the chicken run. Do I need to somehow divide up their food from the chickens or can everyone eat together?

 

[TennesseeTruly]

I have one a little big bigger with shingles on the roof and a door that I use for one pair of my geese. It doesn't look big on the outside but its HUGE on the inside!!

Good luck!

Laurie

 

[savingdogs]

I'm just a few weeks ahead of you so I'll chime in here because I'm using a dog house too. My issue with yours is that it will get really mucky inside and how will you clean it out? If I was going to use that house I'd make sure to fill it with some sort of bedding and quite a bit of it. I'm using an igloo we added a door to. I can take that apart and hose it down periodically and that has been really handy.
Ducks seem much wetter and messier than chickens and poo a lot more. Their poo becomes like a solid floor in the course of a few hours in their pen I've set up and in the brooder their bedding got so wet! They poop right in their water and then drink it. They climb right into the waterers I set up and poo in them.
Another idea would be to add a pull-out drawer floor. We have one like that in our chicken coop and love it. We recycled a pan from an extra large dog crate that we had here and made a slot for it to go into in the chicken coop. And you might want to paint the inside with something to help it withstand occasional hosing down.

I think the size you are starting with looks great though and you just need to fine tune some details. We do not have water inside our igloo for our ducks, but we put them to bed late, get up early and live in a cool climate. Looks like you will have plenty of room for a waterer and feeder inside yours!

 

[yotetrapper]

I just let the ducks make their mess, but I imagine you could drill holes with a holesaw in a 5gal bucket to make a waterer ducks stick their heads in. Can buy a hole saw for around $5, or cut the holes with a knife I'd bet, or square holes with a jig saw even.

My ducks eat what my chickens do. Adult ducks, that is. Baby ducks should never get medicated chick starter, should be on a meatbird food instead, so if you chicks are on medicated starter, you'd need to seperate them.