Duck Nesting Boxes & Pond Questions

[HendricksonHomestead]

I have 2 swedish blue ducks that are 6 weeks old now. I have them in with my chickens and I plan to keep them in the coop with my chickens as they get older. I would like to free range my ducks and let them spend their time during the day in my big pond...I'm wondering if I should be worried that they won't come back at night being in such a big pond? We live in the woods and have many predators so I'd really prefer them to be in the coop at night. We also have wild ducks that spend time on the pond...is that something I should be concerned about as well??

(here are our ducks, we named them Pebbles & Bamm Bamm even though we don't know their genders yet.. lol)

ALSO I was wondering what I should do for their nesting boxes? Should I just make one nest box on the ground below the chickens nesting box?

I've included photos of my pond so you guys can see how big it is, and of my coop so you can see my set up so far. We have the roost for the chickens on the right and their nesting boxes are going to go on the left side.

Our pond:

Chicken's nesting box area:

Roosting area:

The whole coop (the dog crate is just in here until my silkie gets big enough to not get trampled by the bigger guys..lol

 

[Miss Lydia]

That’s a beautiful pond but I think they may not come home at night and since they aren’t wild and will be too heavy to fly they will be at great risk for being eaten.

 

[HendricksonHomestead]

That’s a beautiful pond but I think they may not come home at night and since they aren’t wild and will be too heavy to fly they will be at great risk for being eaten.

That's what I'm afraid of thanks for the input. I was also maybe thinking of building them a duck house right by the pond so they don't have to go far for some safety. But still seems too dangers.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I have 2 swedish blue ducks that are 6 weeks old now. I have them in with my chickens and I plan to keep them in the coop with my chickens as they get older. I would like to free range my ducks and let them spend their time during the day in my big pond...I'm wondering if I should be worried that they won't come back at night being in such a big pond? We live in the woods and have many predators so I'd really prefer them to be in the coop at night. We also have wild ducks that spend time on the pond...is that something I should be concerned about as well??

(here are our ducks, we named them Pebbles & Bamm Bamm even though we don't know their genders yet.. lol)
View attachment 1821740
ALSO I was wondering what I should do for their nesting boxes? Should I just make one nest box on the ground below the chickens nesting box?

I've included photos of my pond so you guys can see how big it is, and of my coop so you can see my set up so far. We have the roost for the chickens on the right and their nesting boxes are going to go on the left side.

Our pond:View attachment 1821734
Chicken's nesting box area:
View attachment 1821729
Roosting area:View attachment 1821730
The whole coop (the dog crate is just in here until my silkie gets big enough to not get trampled by the bigger guys..lolView attachment 1821731

What cuties! I was thinking of getting a few blue or black Swedish to add to our ducks. What are their personalities like? We have 4 ducks that are Welsh Harlequin layer mixes and a mallard. We have a pond that we herd them to when we can supervise. We’ve lost a few to predators so we don’t leave them out when we aren’t around. They are trained to come back to the coop before dusk. We trained them with a kayak. If they didn’t leave the pond and come in when called, I went out on the pond with the kayak and herded them to shore. It only took a few times for them to get the idea.