Chicken/Duck keeping question!

[Jennifer3141]

Alright. Our three ducklings are here and they are awesome. :001_smile:

 

I am not a technical person and there's no way DH would ever be interested in building a coop with me so don't suggest it, please. That just doesn't happen in my world.

 

I like a coop on mypetchicken.com. Actually, it's a tractor combination coop-run thingie. And I'm getting one step up size-wise in case our flock grows... :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm adding the linoleum floor and in the winter, I plan on tarping the run so the ducks will have a little fresh air when they want it but be able to stay out of the wind.

 

The coop description says to keep the water outside in the run to cut down on humidity but I'm thinking about the 5 day snowstorm we had this winter where temps were well below freezing for days and days and we got 4 feet of snow. No matter my tarpage, that would be miserable outside.

 

Also, to cut down on predatory attacks, the ducks will be locked inside the actual coop at night. So they won't have access to water if I do it like they recommend and keep water only in the pen.

 

Is a smaller pan of water at night going to be ok? I get that water and wood aren't the best combination but the linoleum layer and thick bedding will help, right? I don't expect the coop to last for all eternity. It's wood. It will need maintenance as stuff rots anyway, right? It's duck poo. It's WET! :D

[KS_]

Alright. Our three ducklings are here and they are awesome. :001_smile:

 

I'm adding the linoleum floor and in the winter, I plan on tarping the run so the ducks will have a little fresh air when they want it but be able to stay out of the wind.

 

The coop description says to keep the water outside in the run to cut down on humidity but I'm thinking about the 5 day snowstorm we had this winter where temps were well below freezing for days and days and we got 4 feet of snow. No matter my tarpage, that would be miserable outside.

 

Also, to cut down on predatory attacks, the ducks will be locked inside the actual coop at night. So they won't have access to water if I do it like they recommend and keep water only in the pen.

 

Is a smaller pan of water at night going to be ok? I get that water and wood aren't the best combination but the linoleum layer and thick bedding will help, right? I don't expect the coop to last for all eternity. It's wood. It will need maintenance as stuff rots anyway, right? It's duck poo. It's WET! :D

 

I have chickens, but I tarped their coop this winter and it worked out very well - they were able to go out in the run part and not have it full of snow or in the full wind. I did put straw down in there to help with warmth.

 

I also got them set up with watering nipples, instead of the other types of waterers. I did a quick Google search and it appears that you can use them for ducks. I used a 3 or 4 gallon bucket that sits up on a concrete block. It does stay out in the run portion, but the water stays clean! And for the winter, I got a bucket heater and was able to keep their water from freezing and me from having to change it out daily. I don't know if ducks sleep during the night, but from what I read, chickens do, so don't really need the water in the coop part during the night. However, if you want water in the coop, it's easy enough to make a nipple waterer out of something smaller and hang it in the coop - I started my chicks out with a plastic drink bottle.

[WishboneDawn]

We keep water in our coop. Making sure your coop has good ventilation will solve most of the moisture problems.

[Jennifer3141]

I bought duck diapers today too so who knows if they will even be in the coop when the weather turns that awful... :lol:

 

The coop has lots of screened doors and windows for ventilation and I added extra because we can get incredibly hot here in the summer too.

 

Margaret, do you know if nipples work for ducks? Since they need deep water, do people use nipples with ducks?

 

The deep bedding method makes sense to me scientifically but just grosses me out in practice. Weeks without total bedding changing? It just seems so wrong.

 

I called the company and we're going to put some of that big plastic edging stuff to go up the walls 6 inches or so too. It won't be "pretty" but it will help when I mop.

[KS_]

The deep bedding method makes sense to me scientifically but just grosses me out in practice. Weeks without total bedding changing? It just seems so wrong.

 

 

I use the deep litter method and haven't really had an issue, however, chickens roost at night (I have no clue about ducks) and I have a poop board under their roost, which collects the majority of the droppings. That does get dumped into the compost pile a couple times a week. I just recently changed out all the bedding in the coop from last fall - over the winter I only added more several times.

[mumto2]

I grew up near you. Growing up I had a pet duck. In the winter she lived in my dad's green house. It really wasn't t as warm as it sounds. Her water froze nightly. She had a heavy metal pan the size of a dish pan that we kept with maybe 3 inches of water. Lots of straw for the floor. It wasn't really grosse. The grosse part was changing it! She slept in a nest that was two straw bales backed against a wall with a foot or so opening. Then two hay bales accross the top.

 

During the summer she was fenced in with garden fence - maybe a foot high and lived in a cherry tank turned on its side with screen and a door.

 

She was great fun. Got into everything when we let her out-- drank paint, varish, etc. Ate our garden-- she could run her beak down a row of seedlings and scoop them right up. I adored her and she was around for several years.

 

She ate cracked corn in the winter. I don't remember her being yellowish from it but she usually had ruined her feathers by helping with painting etc. The only cure came when she molted in the spring. She also ate kitchen scraps.

[fairfarmhand]

I think ducks acutually need to be able to rinse their nostrils with water to keep their bill clear clean and healthy. So I don't think that nippes would work for them.

[mamakim]

We don't put water in with the ducks overnight - I read somewhere that they don't need it if they can have water right up until bedtime and first thing in the morning.

 

The only thing to keep in mind about bedding/wet bedding is that they can get bumblefoot if they routinely walk on poo-covered stuff. We're dealing with two ducks with bumblefoot now because poor dears found some broken glass and walked on it (nice neighbor kids toss all kinds of things over the fence). It's treatable but the cleaner their bedding the better, and I'd worry about soggy bedding if the water were in there. They're messy drinkers!