Life update, and questions

[BelovedBirds]

So,
I am finally, finally  beginning to make plans for the future which entails moving out of my parents home, probably next year sometime.
So, some questions.
Firstly, I truly am flying the nest, the plan is to move a few hundred miles. It will be a car journey for the ducks, may take over 5 hours of driving plus stops. It'll be a challenge moving them with me for sure, but no duck left behind.
(It's times like this I'm glad I just have the two....)

Any tips on travelling with the girls, how large of a carrier they'll need, how many water and food breaks, anything I can do to reduce stress? Dougie has been in a car one time and hated it. I guess I could do practice runs, with frequent stops and treats to make it a better experience?

Second question, we will be downgrading for sure. Their current pen (forgot the exact measurements) is over 4...or maybe 5 metres long? And it is almost as wide. Its given them lots of room to stretch their wings, fly a bit, splash in their pool, allowed for a decent sized duck house, etc etc. They even have a forage pit complete with a log that they enjoy climbing on.

This pen will be both too large to take, and too large to house. The likelihood is a relatively small yard.
I do have a second pen in different use currently, which is 3m by 2m, I guess it's not exactly small, but for the girls, and their pool... and the coop... it seems far too small for them. Even with access to the rest of the yard during supervision most days.
What is the minimum requirement for their pen? And what would y'all reccomend? I'd happily get a new one somewhere in between, but I just don't know what will be practical. Opinions appreciated.

 

[Jenbirdee]

good for you, congratulations! Well it's certainly going to be much easier with only 2 ducks. Sometimes I try to figure out how I could ever move with 12 ducks (&2 geese &2 chickens).... One thing I learned when I was younger and I moved from CA to NJ with a cat. DO NOT LET THE ANIMAL OUT OF THEIR CRATE ANYWHERE OUTSIDE.
Only let them out inside a motel room or wherever else you are going to have a safe, secure place that they cant run or fly away from you.

 

[ruthhope]

I have a lit of experience of moving my ducks long distances by road as I moved them nearly 900 miles north from Florida in January this year. I do short monthly trips home to Flirida to makesure my house is ok and since May have taken 1 or 2 ducks with me as one has stopped walking and needs extra care that my duck minders cannot provide.

I first took 4 ducks on road trip September 2022 . I had them two each in two dog crates under the tailgate of my minivan. I use a divider in each dog crate to ensure no squabbling, and puppy pads in the bottom. I learned a lot on that trip.

I brought the ducks north, 2 each in divided dog crates in January this year, in the bed of my truck. They had several layers of tarp over them, with pinestraw bales around them, as I was worried about the cold. They are Florida boys!!. The temperatures fell below freezing on the journey. I was very worried, but the boys did just fine. I stopped every 200 miles as we have welcome centres on the highways and I was travelling north through 100 miles in Florida and Georgia, and approximately 200 miles each in S and N Carolina, and Virginia. ALthough it was colder, I travelled overnight as the boys would normally be asleep on the coop. They did sleep on the journey: once frightening me because they did not respond to me when I stopped and went to check on them. They were asleep! On pur last stop where I was going to get some shut eye, I parked in the morning sunshine and opened the tailgate so that they gat warmth from the sun. I was treating myself, not the ducks who oukd have been equally ok with being kept wrapped up in tarps with the tailgate up.

Since May, I have had to take my special needs pekin with me. I take him in a smallish pet carrier that has a top door as well as a front door. I put an old blanket over the back seats inside my truck cab and secure the carrier with the sratbelt. I have taken a second drake three times: once his bonded pal for company, and twice my Daffy who was ill or under the weather and I wanted to keep a closer eye on him than my duck minder could. Daffy is a large muscovy: nearly 15 lbs. He travels in a larger pet carrier also with a front and top door, secured with a seatbelt.

I leave home late afternoon or early evening depending on whether I am travelling north or south to avoid rush hour congestion on urban stretches of the highway. I do not feed the boys while travelling but I carry a gallon of oral rehydration solution (pedialyte or similar) and offer it every 200 miles. My special needs pekin always drinks when offered. As he is a skinny minny at less than 5lbs, I am glad he takes oral rehydration solution. The two myscovy that have travelled will not take fluids until we get to our destination. It often takes 22 hours for the full trip as I am driving alone and need to rest (I'm a bit old and decrepit and can no l9nger drive through for 14 hours with just fuel and pee brakes.) On the journeys my husband is sharing the driving, we make it in 14 hours.

I have the ducks on a puppy pad that has only once need changing en route: because they are not eating they are not pooping. The once, I had to stop in Georgia and wash out the whole carrier and hose down the special needs pekin as he must have stuffed his crop with pellets just before I put him into the carrier!!! Fortunately the Georgia welcome centre has stand pipes by each picnic area. So he was washed down and dried off while I ate my supper, much to the amusement of the only other folks picnicking in the late summer evening.

Of course, it is smelly having the ducks in my old minivan or in the cab of the truck with me. But I live my ducks and put up with it. Husband moans once and puts up with it. My son, who doesn't drive, came along for the ride north 2 weeks ago and complained for hours. He is going back on a Greyhound Bus unless he promises to zip up his mouth next weekend when I return home in Florida. At he moment, I am only planning to take the special needs pekin with me. He goes in his carrier without protest (he protests lots of things, so I know he is fine with going in his carrier.) Neither of the muscovy have lijed going into their carrier although they quickly settle down and sulk for the trip. As I wrote, neither will drink while confined. They both forgive me as soon as they get put of their carrier!

I think you are unlikely to have any problems travelling 200 miles. Go slow and gentle if ypu are not on a highway: you wouldn't want to throw them around in their carriers. Don't worry about food and restrict feeding for maybe 2 hours before you travel to reduce any smelly discharges! Use puppy pads to soak up watery discharges.

As for the size your ducks future quarters, I'll leave that for others to respond

Safe travels and good luck with your newly fledged independence. Be sure to find some duck keeping friends in your new location!

 

[ruthhope]

good for you, congratulations! Well it's certainly going to be much easier with only 2 ducks. Sometimes I try to figure out how I could ever move with 12 ducks (&2 geese &2 chickens).... One thing I learned when I was younger and I moved from CA to NJ with a cat. DO NOT LET THE ANIMAL OUT OF THEIR CRATE ANYWHERE OUTSIDE.
Only let them out inside a motel room or wherever else you are going to have a safe, secure place that they cant run or fly away from you.

I should add to my earlier comment: the special needs pekin that I hosed down at a visitor centre and allowed to dry off in the sun cannot walk. He can make a "run for it" using his wings but doesn't if he is comfortable. I can easily catch him should he make a run for it!!

I once stayed overnight in a motel. I booked my puppy in to the motel and said nothing about the duck in "the puppy's carrier"! He had a whale of a time swimming in the bath: I took particular care to thoroughly clean the bath after its use by the duck.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Safe travels and good luck with your newly fledged independence. Be sure to find some duck keeping friends in your new location!

Thanks! And thank you for sharing your experience with this! It's a big comfort to know my girls should be okay with the journey when it comes time to go.
I imagine they'll feel fairly unsettled moving like this, but the plan is to have everything set up for them so they can start settling in peacefully right away.
It would certainly be nice to meet some other duck parents! It's not too unlikely either, the location is halfway between town and country side, closer to the countryside. so I'm likely to meet some country folk. Still, it's very anxiety inducing, I just hope the neighbours end up being nice, and that the ducks don't cause anyone a bother!
They're relatively quiet, but I still worry. Current neighbours love animals and don't mind the ducks at all. They were very excited to hear we even had them!
If worst comes to worst, they'll be partially house ducks, which they love a lot lol. I don't love it quite so much though so I'm hoping they can stay outdoors.

 

[BelovedBirds]

good for you, congratulations! Well it's certainly going to be much easier with only 2 ducks. Sometimes I try to figure out how I could ever move with 12 ducks (&2 geese &2 chickens).... One thing I learned when I was younger and I moved from CA to NJ with a cat. DO NOT LET THE ANIMAL OUT OF THEIR CRATE ANYWHERE OUTSIDE.
Only let them out inside a motel room or wherever else you are going to have a safe, secure place that they cant run or fly away from you.

Thank you for chiming in!
I will certainly keep them inside their travel crate!
I am very lucky in this, having only the two. I want to have a bigger flock with all my heart, but then there's times like this... I don't think I'm going to be in a hurry to expand my flock for a while yet lol

 

[BelovedBirds]

I'm gunna give my thread a lil bump, see if anyone has any thoughts on the pen dilemma!

 

[ruthhope]

I have a duck coup in Florida that is 4' by 6'. It is light and airy. It is the minimum size for 6 ducks to live in although it is only their night sleeping quarters. I have had 8 boys sleeping there for a while in dog crates and gaps between the crates. They dont mind less space at night. I had two tightly bonded pekin drakes sharing a dog crate, and one muscovy always roosted on top of the dog crate that his sidekick slept in. The boys were happy but because of a design flaw in my coop design, it was cramped for me getting in to manage food and water, and clean bedding.

The guide on space requirements for a pen is 4 square feet per duck. So my coup could house 6 ducks 24/7. I don't chose to do that: mine free range in my back yard during the day. I do retain new boys in the coop for a some time when they just arrive, after quarantine in dog crates in the house. That gets the notion that the coop is 'home' into their little noddles. My son's three pekins are currently staying in my coop as my boys are with me on an extended visit elsewhere. They were very happy in the coop 24/7 for a few days, and only emerged cautiously after that. They are now out foraging and using the wading pool, but go back to the coop on their own late afternoon.

8x4 is big enough minimum space for 2 ducks, but not enough to give them water to bathe and play in. When I have introduced new drakes to my flock, after quarantine, they sleep in a dog crate in the coop with my boys and are retained in the coop during the day, but I put a dog pen outside the coop door so that the newbie can come out; and I include a big plastic tote for water play and bathing, and even a wading pool if there is more than 1 newbie. It was a good 8 weeks before I got 2 pekin drakes integrated last summer.

So I am thinking you don't need a huge space for your girls and you might be able to flexibly increase the space using a dog pen round the door on occasions

 

[BelovedBirds]

Okay, little update-
We have had our offer accepted on a house!!!!
Nothing feels certain yet, as we need it to be surveyed, couple things need checking out. And depending on that we may have some difficult decisions.
But gosh I hope it works out because it's perfect for us.

The ducks would especially love it as they won't have to downsize much, and get their very own brick built building rather than another wooden coop! Keep your fingers crossed for us

 

[ruthhope]

Fingers and toes crossed!