Would ducks appreciate a nest area?

[nettie]

I'm drawig up my designs for my new sleeper pen for my ducks. It'll connect to their bigger pen as their run. I was wondering If i build nest "boxes" into the design, would they use them? I was thinking of seperating the end of the pen to make three seperate little boxes for the ducks to sit in.

My question is, will they use them? will they lay eggs in them, even if they aren't broody? Should i even bother lol? My space is very limited and i'd hate to incorporate nest boxes they won't use, thus wasting precious space... Would i have to teach them yo use it? does anyone else have ducks that use nest boxes?

I found this design on BYC and like it. It would be on the floor of the pen so they could walk in easily. I would put a lid on it that i could open to collect the eggs...

 

[nettie]

oh another thought.... If i built two sets of two nests, and put one set on top of the other, with a ramp leading down, would the ducks use a ramp up to the nest box?

Here's a quick and crude drawing of my idea for the ramps in Illustrator... Would they use the ramps? Man, that's give much more space....

 

[fowlmood]

If there's a trick to getting ducks to lay eggs in the same spot for more than a few days in a row I'd like to hear it. I have a nest box for mine and it's like easter morning everday around here.

Might find one in the nest box, might not. My ducks seem to keep changing spots. They'll build several little depressions on the ground or in the bedding. Sometimes they'll share a nest, sometimes they lay in different ones. I'm never sure where to look. They can really tuck those nests in some inconvenient spots for me. I've been down on my hands and knees to get to those eggs more than once.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

If there's a trick to getting ducks to lay eggs in the same spot for more than a few days in a row I'd like to hear it.

Ditto ~~ !​

 

[jvls1942]

to get dcks to lay in one spot, you have to remove as many choices as you can. I had my muscovys in a 1/2 acre fenced in pen last year and I just took 3 rubbermaid totes
and propped up one end.. the ducks used only one of them, but I could always find the eggs..

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

My ducks appreciate a nest, BUT they would never go out of their way to use it- i.e up a ramp...

My duck book says to make a nice square nest about 18" X 18" and just put it on the floor of the coop.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

just put it on the floor of the coop

~~ that is part of the problem, my ducks free-range as we have a pond. We have encouraged them to use the barn and at this time of year they will, though not necessarily in the two nice nestboxes provided for them.​

 

[xfilesnumber1fan]

Quote:
Boy do I know what you mean...Every morning its Easter egg hunting time..Them crazy ducks put eggs everywhere!!

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I use 5 gallon buckets for my call duck nests. I cut out a hole in the bucket, then but the bucket upside down, and fill it with straw and shavings.

 

[nettie]

mine wold be in a sleep pen at night that's about 5ft by 4.5 ft. I was going to try to build the nest boxes in one end of it.
Since it's a smaller coop, i woder if they'll use it. When they're running around my patio, there a table and a small dog carrier in there. One duck always sits under the table and the other always sits in the carrier, lol.

Does any one keep their ducks in smaller coops for the night?