Hello

I live in Australia

I going to keep two-three ducks and 2 chickens in my backyard. My first design for a run is about 4 by 2.7 by 1.2 metres. There will be a house about 1.5 by 1 by 1 metres also.

Does this sound alright or do I need changes.

What are the quietest breeds of chickens and ducks.

Plymouth barred rocks are quiet Rhode island reds are fairly quiet.Do you want youre chickens for meat, eggs or show? How many chickens/ducks are you going to keep in there?


Chicken

i have 30chickens, 6 baby chicks, and 4 roosters. They have their own roosting/laying area. I also now have 4 ducks which are the same age as the chicks (about 9weeks). The ducks have just been living outside from about the 2 or 3 week. I don't know what type of housing to build for them for the winter. It gets to about -15c at the coldest.

At the moment the ducks have taken to spending a lot of their time in the pond we bought them. Although when i go to bed they are swimming, and when i looked at 5am they were still in there. Is it alright for them to sleep in their pool in the summer?

Arnold,

The easiest shelter, and one that would be plenty big enough for your ducks, is a dog house with a door that closes. I would lock them in at night to avoid predators. I'd recommend pine shavings fro bedding inside the house for added warmth.

Do your chickens already have a shelter? I keep my ducks and chickens together and it works out fine, but I have rather a large coop. (Room for 40 chickens, 4 ducks, 2 geese, 10 guineas, and space the spare!)

Let me know if you need actual plans for a shelter, I can email you some.

Jane

Muscovy ducks are very quiet. The males don't quack like you would expect; rather they sound as though they have a sore throat and can't make much noise. The females can make a little more noise, but I have found mine to be very quiet overall.

The males also don't fly very well. They are very big ducks (the same size of a small goose), and as a result they seem to be too heavy to fly. Both the females and the males will flap there wings while standing around, but they never seem to get off the ground.

Our duck house is actually an old pheasant coop that has been renovated to provide large enough roosting areas for the Muscovies. The coop is inside against the barn walls. We have cut a "duck door" (think dog door but smaller) into the wall of the barn and hung a peice of old carpet as the door (dog door flaps seem too heavy for the ducks). It takes a bit of time to train the ducks to use the door. We began by picking each duck up a pushing them through the door for about a month or so. Just remember that until they learn how to use the door, they will not come back inside so you will have to push them through the door again.

The area outside that they use is a fenced in yard with the fence buried 1 foot below the soil to keep predators out. Ducks, chickens and geese should have access to both inside and outside as they choose. By setting a coop up this way they will do as they please and you won't have to worry about them being stuck outside in a blizzard (we live in Canada) and you won't have to heard them all into the barn at night to keep out predators.


Good luck!

Hi....

Can anyone give me an idea of the size Duck house We should build for our four new ducks? Also, what size the fenced in area should be. They will be heading outdoors in a few weeks and we need to build our house. Thank you so much for your help...