Now What?

Protecting your Flock

Food, check. Water, check. Heat, check. Now for the fun part! Go get your flock! You are now ready to start raising ducklings and start thinking about warmer weather. If you are getting cold weather when you get your ducklings you have some time to prepare your back yard for full sized quackers.

Predators

The coop and pen is where your fully grown ducks are going to live and sleep. Depending on where you live you will need to protect it from predators. A few years back at a different house in Denver we were raising chicks and a couple Chihuahuas got into our back yard, dug under the side of the coop, and were able to get to a chick. In the area we live in now southwest of Denver a car unfortunately hit a bear in the middle of the suburbs. Just last week we noticed a fox was jumping our fence and was checking out our ducks. Even though you might live in the suburbs, there is still a chance some predators might take an interest in your ducks.

Weather

We hate to break it to you, but ducks are dumb. If you live in an area like us that gets hail you will need to make sure the coop and pen are protected. (Unless you want to run out into a hail storm with a pillow on your head shooing your ducks into the coop so that they don’t get hit; ask us how we know.) When the weather starts to turn cold you don’t need to worry. Ducks will go through a molt and grow their winter feathers to keep them warm. If you get a really cold snap you could consider throwing some more straw or leaves into the coop so that they have a little more insulation, but they should be fine.

Premade Coops

You can definitely get a premade coop from your local farm supply store, but that won’t be big enough for your ducks. They work great as a coop, but unless you are going to let your ducks free roam every day you will need to build an extension to the coop. Having said that you don’t need to buy a premade coop. You could use a dog house to use as a coop and build a pen around that. You just need some place for your ducks to sleep that is out of the weather. We have found ducks prefer a ground level coop because they don’t like going up ramps. If you have an all Muscovy flock they are adapted to flying and like to roost off the ground.

Ventilation

One handy feature of a premade coop is that it has ventilation built in. There should be some flap or door near the top of the coop that you can open in summer to let hot air escape and partially close in the winter. Ventilation is key for both chickens and ducks because as they breathe they release humidity which releases water into the air that can freeze your poultry. Proper ventilation even during winter is important to make sure you don’t have duck popsicles in the morning.

Design Recommendations

Over the years of raising ducks and chickens we have found a few design recommendations for your pen. Clear corrugated plastic is a great material to use a a roof to your pen. It lets light through, but also protects the ducks from the elements. If a panel is damaged, say from a hail storm, it is easy to remove a few screws and replace the panel. When you are installing chicken wire around the pen make sure to put some, 6 inches to a foot (15cm-30cm), along the ground. If you have the budget you can also put retaining wall bricks on top of the chicken wire you laid on the ground. That will help prevent small to medium sized predators from easily digging under the pen. If you went the premade coop route that was designed for chickens which has a bottom that is only covered with chicken wire and live in an area that gets snow consider blocking off the bottom with some wood to help keep in the heat in the winter. Finally, build your pen tall enough so that it is easy to get in and out of. Do you really want to be bending down to get into the pen to refill a pond or feed the ducks?

Pen Size

This gets to a personal preference and how much of your property you want to devote to the ducks. For a starting point we give our ducks at least 8 square feet (0.75 m^2), but do let them roam our vegetable patch in the summer.

Cover photo by Jairo Alzate on Unsplash