Duck housing ideas needed!

[Ilovemychicks08]

I will be getting 2 ducks one Welsh Harlequin and a Blue Swedish in April, both females! They will be in the same run with the chickens but the duck coop will be outside of the chicken run with a small run of their own, if i need to seperate them from the chickens for any reason. I want the coop to be a 4 by 3 at least, but not any bigger than a 5 by 8. I do need it to be off the ground at least 1 foot, because of flooding. I also live in southern Wi so it gets very cold in the winter and can get very hot in the summer. I will be using straw. Any ideas or plans are appreciated! TIA

 

[BelovedBirds]

I will be getting 2 ducks one Welsh Harlequin and a Blue Swedish in April, both females! They will be in the same run with the chickens but the duck coop will be outside of the chicken run with a small run of their own, if i need to seperate them from the chickens for any reason. I want the coop to be a 4 by 3 at least, but not any bigger than a 5 by 8. I do need it to be off the ground at least 1 foot, because of flooding. I also live in southern Wi so it gets very cold in the winter and can get very hot in the summer. I will be using straw. Any ideas or plans are appreciated! TIA

Is building it from scratch a possibility? In my experience, coops are very expensive and not always ideal for ducks.
I bought my girls a nice big hen coop for £200, but had to cut better vents, make a step etc to make it suitable for them. It was definitely not worth the price and if I could go back I would definitely have built my own!
For two ducks, for overnight housing, I believe the minimum is 4x4ft of space, the bigger the better of course. Straw makes great bedding in the winter. I use dust extracted pine shavings as a base, and then on one side I add a layer of hay or straw depending on the season and temps. My girls need cleaning out every couple days to keep it as dry as possible in there (since I'm currently giving a small amount of water each night which I dislike but the daylight hours are short and the nights are long).
One foot off the ground would be fine, but you'll need a step or a ramp (not steep) for them to get in and out.

Ventilation is really important. People often say 1sqft if Ventilation per bird, but I find that this isn't needed. My two girls have about 1sqft of Ventilation between them from two vents, and that has worked really well. I wouldnt have less than that though, as ducks produce a lot of wet mess and need good ventilation. The important thing is to put the vents at the top of the house (which will hopefully be a decent height), so that there is no chance of wind chill or cold drafts directly on them. It's a balance of well ventilated but not too open. I have my duck house inside my pen which is covered, and the yard is surrounded by trees so it's well sheltered, which also helps to prevent cold winds.

Just a few of my thoughts and learning curves I've learned along the way! Good luck with ducks, they're so much fun and so entertaining to keep, I bet you'll love them!!

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Is building it from scratch a possibility? In my experience, coops are very expensive and not always ideal for ducks.
I bought my girls a nice big hen coop for £200, but had to cut better vents, make a step etc to make it suitable for them. It was definitely not worth the price and if I could go back I would definitely have built my own!
For two ducks, for overnight housing, I believe the minimum is 4x4ft of space, the bigger the better of course. Straw makes great bedding in the winter. I use dust extracted pine shavings as a base, and then on one side I add a layer of hay or straw depending on the season and temps. My girls need cleaning out every couple days to keep it as dry as possible in there (since I'm currently giving a small amount of water each night which I dislike but the daylight hours are short and the nights are long).
One foot off the ground would be fine, but you'll need a step or a ramp (not steep) for them to get in and out.

Ventilation is really important. People often say 1sqft if Ventilation per bird, but I find that this isn't needed. My two girls have about 1sqft of Ventilation between them from two vents, and that has worked really well. I wouldnt have less than that though, as ducks produce a lot of wet mess and need good ventilation. The important thing is to put the vents at the top of the house (which will hopefully be a decent height), so that there is no chance of wind chill or cold drafts directly on them. It's a balance of well ventilated but not too open. I have my duck house inside my pen which is covered, and the yard is surrounded by trees so it's well sheltered, which also helps to prevent cold winds.

Just a few of my thoughts and learning curves I've learned along the way! Good luck with ducks, they're so much fun and so entertaining to keep, I bet you'll love them!!

Thank you so much for the info! I will be building the coop because its cheaper and easier. I planned on adding ventilation along the top of the coop about 3 ft high. The coop and run will be covered, i dont need any eagle or hawk attacts.

 

[ChickInDelight]

I will be getting 2 ducks one Welsh Harlequin and a Blue Swedish in April, both females! They will be in the same run with the chickens but the duck coop will be outside of the chicken run with a small run of their own, if i need to seperate them from the chickens for any reason. I want the coop to be a 4 by 3 at least, but not any bigger than a 5 by 8. I do need it to be off the ground at least 1 foot, because of flooding. I also live in southern Wi so it gets very cold in the winter and can get very hot in the summer. I will be using straw. Any ideas or plans are appreciated! TIA

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Thank you for the pictures! I actually already bulit mine, i just have to side it or paint it. And add on shingles or rubber roofing to the roof.

 

[turtlefrog2]

The Eglu Cube is expensive (and have gotten a lot worse since I bought mine a couple of years ago, just looked at the prices--yikes) but mine has worked great for my 5 (as of today just four, alas) ducks. It is very well made, sturdy, and pretty easy to clean -- I think it will last a very long time.

I have it on the ground instead of on the stand it comes with since that is too tall for ducks. You could put it on cinder blocks or something to get it off the ground and use a ramp for them to get in. Ducks do not go inside naturally when it gets dark like chickens, so you will have to herd them in--the Cube back comes off completely and that makes it easy.

The smaller Eglu coops are great too and would be fine for 2 ducks. I am also in southern WI and in the winter I cover the Cube with a down comforter and a blanket and stack straw bales or bales of pine shavings around it for insulation. You can also buy a custom cover. Ducks are very hardy and mine don't seemed to be bothered by the cold very much. When it gets extremely cold I just put them in the garage -- only had to do it twice for about a week each time last winter.