Duck run ideas

[NuggetTheChicken]

Hello all! Today me and my dad went to TSC to get some cat food and saw some chicks and ducklings for sale. I asked my dad if we can get them, but we don't have a coop as of now. My dad decided maybe next month we can go get some ducklings! We have a basic idea for the coop, it won't take that long. However the run is the problem. We plan on having 4-6 ducks in there. Question is how would one make one and how large. My dad was thinking 18 by 10. A wooden frame with hardware cloth or a dog kennel run? It needs to have a roof. We have a lot of predators here such as hawks, coyotes, foxes, opossums, raccoons, etc. Any ideas for what y'all use for your runs would help greatly. Thanks everyone!

 

[MeganFair]

Oh, a 18x10 run in addition to a coop will be pretty spacious for 6 ducks. Our smaller enclosure was 8x12 and it did our 6 ducks pretty well until we could build a bigger coop for our growing flock.

Definitely go with hardware cloth on a wooden frame. A regular dog run will not stop raccoons. When we were building our first run we heard all kinds of horrors stories from others about raccoons getting at chickens in dog kennels. Also, make sure to have extra hardware cloth or live stock fencing to surround the run on the ground - it needs to extend about 2 feet out, attached at the edges. Dogs and coyotes will dig to get at ducks. This is exactly what we did - and we have all the same predators in our area - and we have never lost an animal to predation while they’re in that coop and run. We also locked the doors with a latch that we could lock with a carabiner. Raccoons can manipulate some types of door latches.

 

[CoriM]

Ducks are the best! But lots of work to keep their living quarters clean. I got 6 last spring and my husband built a coop/run that I will post a photo of. Definitely do 1/4 hardware cloth, buried along the edges so nothing can dig in. We live in the midst of woods and have woodland and air predators. What I discovered as soon as our babies transitioned to their coop was that what they love most in life is foraging and being around us. So now I watch them outside for at least an hour or two a day. They run through our grass and look for bugs and make a huge mess. I want to figure out something for them so that they can spend more time out of their run/coop, with less supervision, but haven't got there yet. At least they're lots of fun to watch I have a friend next door who got 16 ducks last year and they enjoy a super happy life free-ranging on a beautiful pond, but she's lost half of them to predators. You have to know what you want and expect going into it.

 

[NuggetTheChicken]

Ducks are the best! But lots of work to keep their living quarters clean. I got 6 last spring and my husband built a coop/run that I will post a photo of. Definitely do 1/4 hardware cloth, buried along the edges so nothing can dig in. We live in the midst of woods and have woodland and air predators. What I discovered as soon as our babies transitioned to their coop was that what they love most in life is foraging and being around us. So now I watch them outside for at least an hour or two a day. They run through our grass and look for bugs and make a huge mess. I want to figure out something for them so that they can spend more time out of their run/coop, with less supervision, but haven't got there yet. At least they're lots of fun to watch I have a friend next door who got 16 ducks last year and they enjoy a super happy life free-ranging on a beautiful pond, but she's lost half of them to predators. You have to know what you want and expect going into it.

Cute ducks! I have had ducks before so know what I'm getting into. I don't have any plans for free ranging at all. I don't let my chickens free range either, they are only in the run. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[NuggetTheChicken]

I was thing about using 2 by 4s for the frame, painted, then using fence staples put 6 foot tall welded wire for the whole pen. Cover the lower 3 feet with hardware cloth or chicken wire so they can't poke their heads out. Is this a good idea?

 

[DuckyDonna]

Ducks are the best! But lots of work to keep their living quarters clean. I got 6 last spring and my husband built a coop/run that I will post a photo of. Definitely do 1/4 hardware cloth, buried along the edges so nothing can dig in. We live in the midst of woods and have woodland and air predators. What I discovered as soon as our babies transitioned to their coop was that what they love most in life is foraging and being around us. So now I watch them outside for at least an hour or two a day. They run through our grass and look for bugs and make a huge mess. I want to figure out something for them so that they can spend more time out of their run/coop, with less supervision, but haven't got there yet. At least they're lots of fun to watch I have a friend next door who got 16 ducks last year and they enjoy a super happy life free-ranging on a beautiful pond, but she's lost half of them to predators. You have to know what you want and expect going into it.

I'd love to let mine out to free-range and forage out in the yard. I used to do that every night while I was washing and cleaning their pool and water buckets. I could see and keep track of them while I was doing my chores but when a coyote came out of the woods after my dog and with all the flying predators that just sit in a tree and wait for the right moment I decided it wasn't worth it. I'm afraid that if an attack came out of nowhere I wouldn't be able to control the situation with 11 ducks.

 

[MeganFair]

I was thing about using 2 by 4s for the frame, painted, then using fence staples put 6 foot tall welded wire for the whole pen. Cover the lower 3 feet with hardware cloth or chicken wire so they can't poke their heads out. Is this a good idea?

That should work pretty well. Our small enclosure is only about three feet tall, so we did it completely in hardware cloth. Your design should still be pretty tight.

 

[BReeder!]

I was thing about using 2 by 4s for the frame, painted, then using fence staples put 6 foot tall welded wire for the whole pen. Cover the lower 3 feet with hardware cloth or chicken wire so they can't poke their heads out. Is this a good idea?

With the list of predators you mentioned, I would suggest exactly what you came hp with. Just make sure the welded wire is still fairly small openings. 2"x4" welded wire should work well. The common 4"x4" would be too large and let medium raccoons and opossums as well as hawks through. Since you mentioned foxes, dig the hardware cloth down a foot or at least run a skirt around the perimeter to prevent foxes from digging into the run.

 

[NuggetTheChicken]

Thanks guys!

 

[DuckyDonna]

Thanks guys!

Instead of using fence staples you might want to use screws and washers. We did that and used a ton of washers. I read somewhere that raccoons and probably other predators can rip those staples out pretty easily but not with screws and washers.

Hint: at Home Depot, you can buy whole boxes of washers. If you reach in behind the loose ones they have unopened boxes and it's a LOT cheaper than buying the washers by the "each".