i'm moving my ducks to a new area and don't know what to house them in this time. old shed fell apart. i was thinking a doghouse type structure with one end totally open. a concrete floor with pine shavings. their water right outside the door with their food inside right by the water. the problem, other then attempting to biuld something is they are disabled. one barely gets around. they move using their wings and kneecaps(?). i hate seeing them like that but trying to give them a good life. they swim well so i need some deep water thingy. a kiddie pool they can not get out of and really mess the water trying. it was in the ground. any help would be great!
disabled ducks
guess no one can help! oh well.
Sorry I have no clue, I have never kept ducks, if you needed a great easy guinea/chicken roost yes, a simple nestbox yes but nothing about ducks.
Is there a local poultry club? Maybe even a farm that houses humane society farm animals waiting for adoption might have a good design or atleast point you in the right direction.
Google the type of duck they are and there has to a be an online forum for them, ask them someone must have kept disabled ducks.
hope it helps some
i had a silkie lik that i was willing to keep it but it had no friends so i went to the vet and got it put down you are lucky that you have 2 at the same time instead of 2 a couple months apart
The dog house structure would work fine, but keep their water away from the food and shavings or they will foul their water constantly. I currently have a plastic children's play house for my ducks and low stock tank for their water. One of my ducks has a bad leg, so I took a piece of rabbit wire (hardware cloth) and made a ramp by folding it to make it sturdy and then bending it into an upside down V. I put that over the side and they can climb in and out. It works well with a kiddy pool too. An inground pool or any type is awfully hard to clean. This I can drain and dump and wash out.
I put the food dish inside their house to get them used to going in there, but most of the time they prefer to sleep outside.
i was going to use bricks on the inside of the pool with a cement ramp to get into it. i know all about water mess and ducks! thanks for helping.
That would work well too, but the wire ramp is lighter and easier to pull out for cleaning.
i'll give it a try. its not wobbly or anything? it has to have a veryyyyyy gradual slope. one duck uses his knees and wings to move. the other only has one knee (other drags behind) and wings. they could probably lift 50 lbs with their wing strength!
My ramp is probably a foot and a half wide and has at least two feet on each side of the pool. It seems to work for my lame duck.
do you have a photo of the ramp and setup. i'm slightly confused as to how it looks. i'm alittle slow in march ans april and may........
I'll try to remember, but just think of an A frame without the middle bar, set over the side of the pool. It makes a ramp up and it makes a ramp down.
its just folded over the pool edge then. i'll give it a try!
must be doing something wrong. it didn't work.
Probably nothing wrong, it just doesn't work for your ducks.
Hello all, we have ducks and geese and sunk a couple kiddy pools down into the sand with gentle mounds to the edge. the ducks and geese are in them all the time...and they both like to swim and then eat the whole grain that we throw into the bottom of the pools. We are new to this but it seems to work. perhaps it would work for your disabled ones as well...just add something firm to form a gentle sloop on the inner wall of the pool if they need.
Good luck..
JcO We have chickens Plus we have Grey Toulouse geese, Gustav, Gertrude and Hildegard, some Rouen ducks, Bronze Turkeys and a Cornish cross-- But spring is coming and who knows what will come into the meadow this year! LOL
How do you clean them? I use a submersable pump, but still have to scrub them out.
i guess you don't like green water! when the weathers warm 3-4 times a week the pool got cleaned. the water is great for watering plants though. 31 chickens, 2 disabled pekins, 2 mallards, 2 baby pekins, 5 bronze turkeys and alot of bags of feed! plus 4 cats, 1 dog, a bunny, fish galore, pet mice, a lizard thingy and a snake. that doesn't include all the bird and hummer feeders and kids. i really need a vacation.
I have a Labradore Retriever. He likes green water to sit in, so I have to keep mine clean.
reminds me of a dr. seuss animal. green dogs in fast cars. thanks all for your help!
Sorry I missed a couple days here. We clean them out with a pump and a broom to loosen everything. It doesn't seem to bother the geese and the ducks to have dirty water but it bothers me so it does get done. My hubby is trying to figure out a way of draining it from the bottom so the water can run down to the vinery garden...but so far nothing... we do have a couple things to try though when it is warm enough again...6 degrees and snow again this morning!
We do have to add water frequently as the geese in particular are rather rowdy with their morning routine...it keeps the water a little less polluted and easier to suck out. Love to watch their routine!
i made rain barrels. they have water hose connecters and washers. i just hook up a hose and turn the handle so it opens. it is all sealed to the barrel with marine caulk. no leaks!
I do like the idea of rain barrels with hose connectors...we have the barrels but I have to use a container to water anything from them. We will have to check that out.
Watched Wiley Coyote check out the goose pen this morning...He seemed to think I was kidding around when I told him to get a life...then he heard the pistol go off and he was more attentive after that! I will be glad when our new and bigger pens are in this spring! Gus sent off a warning to everyone and what a noisy place the meadow became! The roos chased the hens back into the coop, the ducks disappeared and then I came to the meadow door. Now I know why Slyman Fox hasn't been around ... Mr Wiley Coyote has taken over!