Duckman_UK Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I am looking at starting with a couple of ducks in the garden. I am confused as to how a duck house would be any different to a chicken house - and if ducks can walk up ramps. Plastic houses seem dreadfully expensive in comparison to wooden ones (which also come complete with runs); is there a reason for this and would I be wrong in getting something wooden? Thank you for any help you can give me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicken bark Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I have a plastic house for my ducks but I see no problems getting as wooden one as I don't think ducks suffer from red mite the way hens do (and that is one of the many reasons for being biased towards a plastic house). Ducks don't need a nesting box but would probably use one if it was there. They can cope with ramps, although I'm not sure how steep. So get a wooden house if you see one that you like. Ducks need a fair bit of run space (mine FR all the time behind electric netting), you'll need to provide at least a bucket of fresh water each day so they can submerge their nostrils/eyes etc., so a smaller run may get muddy. If your run is small it may be worth getting some of those mats that they use on playground floors that the grass grows through and keep the water on that. I only started keeping ducks at the end of the Summer so have oodles to learn but I think the smaller the duck the noisier it seems to be. Call ducks are noisiest, I think Cayugas like mine are some of the quietest. What breed were you thinking of as that also affects what accommodation you are looking at. E.g.,A runner duck would need a high door so a chicken pop hole may not be big enough. They are wonderful creatures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckman_UK Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 From the reading I've done the Aylesbury/Cherry Valley seem to meet our requirements - a medium build and a good layer with personality. Thank you for the reply by the way - wood will be the way forward then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlotta Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I've got the same house for my runners (4 of them) as chicken bark has for her cayugas. I nearly bought wooden, but the plastic wasn't much more money... I think a wooden one might be a bit stinky with ducks... they don't have nice dry poo like a chicken! My guys are in an electric fence area when I'm not there, with a big wide bucket of water and a paddling pool, but go out in the rest of the garden when I'm around to play in the big pond (was a koi pond!). Mine are a bit noisy, especially when they are nagging to be let out, or want extra greens, but not too bad if they don't know I'm watching! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blues08 Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 If you can advoid a ramp (or one that is to steep) that'd be good as ducks can be very clumsy and will step off or get bumped off in their rush to get out. I started with a chicken coop with a few mods, remove partition in the nesting box, hinge the roof, side/end door for cleaning (you'll find plenty on the net), try and give them as much room/biggest space to live in you can. I sank an old 3ft belfast sink into a soak away in the garden cos they love to have a big splash and spruce up (they now have an 8ft pond), its also easy to change the water (water butt) as they will change the colour very quickly with their inquisitive nature for all things in the garden. They get a treat of a couple of worms from the wormery now and again, they get sooo excited. You'll get huge enjoyment/entertainment and probably end up obsessed like the rest of us Carl 2 x Abacots, 1 apricot runner (who loves chasing pidgeons) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beckyfitz Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I have a wooden house for my ducks & Eglu for my chooks, both are fine. I have a thick layer of hemcore on the floor of the duck house which gets changed when it needs - more often in wet & muddy weather when they walk it all in! It has a pull-down door as a ramp which they mangae fine, but isn't steep or very long. They all live together in a big walk-in run which they have turned to mud I did put a pond in for them but the water needed changing so often it was unmanageable & they only splasehed in it very briefly, so have taken it out, filled the hole with hardcore & gravel to make a sump & sat a large plastic storage box on top which is changed evry morning, they seem to prefer this. I'm forever looking for ways to improve the muddy hovel & am planning to put more slabs down on the 'ducky half' where they spalsh water everywhere, & a layer of woodchip on the 'chickeny half' where the chickens prefer to avoid the mud. Sorry, drivelled on a bit, HTH Becky x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
