Duck Coop and Yard - 2 years Later

[@Survival-fr4ow]

Thanks for the update.

[@51Drones]

Great video! We are just getting started. My biggest concern is for this Winter. It gets to -20F here in North Dakota. Best idea to keep water open?

[@smithmal01]

Yikes... -20F is a tall order when trying to figure out how to not have your water freeze. Do you have access to electrical? IF so you can drop a water warmer down to the bottom of the pail. The insulated pails that I use were good to about 20F to 15F before they started to get a thin layer of ice on the top which was easy enough to break up with a stick.

[@51Drones]

@@smithmal01 Yes, I have power nearby. Also, I know that ducks need ventilation, but how do I keep them ventilated and warm when it gets that cold? That is one of my biggest concerns.

[@smithmal01]

@@51Drones Ducks are way more rugged than chickens. As long as you provide them with shelter from the wind they will be fine. If you're really concerned you can add some insulation to the coop (such as I did). Most heat is released through the ceiling and through the floor which is why I choose to insulate both areas (probably unnecessary for where I live though).

[@51Drones]

@@smithmal01 Thanks! I'm working on predator-proofing right now. Lots of hardware cloth!

[@1958lka]

if you turn the elbows on your feeder down and raise them off the floor enough to let the grain go under, it won't spill out the front and water won't get in it either. It works great.!

[@jrob8764]

1958 a very good year, and I concur with your observation the elbows work better when turn down the way his are would waste a lot of feed.

[@justinstatham6378]

What’s the most amount of adult ducks your setup will hold.

[@smithmal01]

6 ducks based on the size of the coop.

[@semicognitive]

What do you have to do on an average day? In the morning, at night, etc.

[@smithmal01]

Conner - depends on the season... in the summer I need to do this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYjHoqpoe8l9gNk. In the winter, because of freezing temperatures, I need to also do this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5CnhGWEmbp8frc

[@semicognitive]

smithmal Weirdly the summer video doesn't show up for me. It says "This video contains content from WMG, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds."

[@smithmal01]

Dang... I'll have to remove the background song in that video and re-publish it. Sorry about that! To answer your question... Typical Summer Day morning - Open up coop and let out ducks, verify that there's food in the food container and it's falling into the food eating shoots, grab eggs from coop (2-4 minutes) Typical Summer Night - shoo ducks into coop and close door (30 sec) Typical Coop and Duck Yard cleaning - once every two weeks, replace coop straw and clean sand: shovel mucky sand into sand cleaner; rinse 8 times; disinfect with citric acid and sodium chlorite; move manure rinse to trees/garden; clean rinse station (3 hours) Typical Winter morning - same as summer morning; may have thin wall of ice on surface of drinking water Typical Winter night - fill up 5 gallon pail with warm water; transport to duck yard and use it to rinse out drinking water containers and fill with fresh water (3-5 minutes)

[@mmccrownus2406]

good idea to paint the wood/laminate that might warp from wetness.

[@smithmal01]

Thanks for commenting. Suuppossedly the laminate was already painted and ready for outdoor use although it lasted on 3 years in some locations. I ended up removing the back wall (where the doors are located) and the floor and replacing is with 1/2" PVC sheets. Will most likely do that with the rest of the walls soon as well.

[@djpitr]

great system with the water :) , the pellet feeder needs wider cover roof so rain water dont get in the pvc feeders , how much it cost you to feed your ducks per month ? and proximately how manny eggs u get ?

[@smithmal01]

djpitr - thanks for the comment. A wider roof would help, but I generally don't get a lot of rain where I live and the pellets inside the feeder elbows only get wet when its a really bad downpour. Also the ducks tend to eat the food pretty quickly so it gets replaced with new dry food. My six ducks eat around 60lbs of feed per month (or about 10lbs per duck; about $20). I have heavyweight ducks so they give larger eggs and more meat, but they also eat more feed than smaller ducks. I generally get between 270 - 300 eggs per year from each duck. The egg production starts to slow down after about 2.5 - 3 years and then the ducks needs to be swapped out with new younger ducks if I want to continue with a similar production rate. Different breeds will provide different egg size/production. This video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/mae6hWmghqx1raM) has a chart in it discussing duck breed and egg production (at around 2:25 mark).

[@djpitr]

smithmal thanks , great info :) couple of weeks I got me first 2 Perkins baby ducks :) so I’m trying learn as much I can :)

[@smithmal01]

Good deal. Hopefully they will be pre-sexed for you. Getting two females is fine, but having too males would be a big problem due to aggression

[@djpitr]

smithmal yeh , they not sexed :( so I will have to wait until they Big and I can tell :) on way to pick up some other ducks :) after Easter everybody selling ducks :) or giving away :)

[@smithmal01]

Make sure you keep your female to male ration 3/4 to 1. Too many males will make your flock very aggressive causing the male ducks to become very competitive for female mating. This can cause the female ducks to be maimed/killed during mating. Male ducks are naturally very aggressive when mating. Check out this video to see an example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZaZhqpoedZ7orc

[@djpitr]

Question , is it true that ducks lay the eggs just about everywhere ? Like every time on different places , all over ground ? Not like chickens in nest ?

[@smithmal01]

In my case no. I closed the door to my coop at night for a while and they became conditioned to lay in the coop (generally early morning hours). My ducks did move their laying area from the coop to the nesting box at one point, but again, the nesting box is an enclosed space so they felt safe making a nest in it. i have read others indicate that finding duck eggs is like an Easter Egg hunt, but by locking them in their coop at night, they can condition them to lay in the coop rather than in random places outside.

[@point6acre]

Great videos, thank you! What brand of lock do you use and where did you purchase them?

[@smithmal01]

Brin - they are Master Lock Magnums. Here's an Amazon link for them: www.amazon.com/Master-Lock-Padlock-Magnum-Stainless/dp/B000WEMGH4/ref=asc_df_B000WEMGH4/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=194861420852&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16014472403055467386&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008062&hvtargid=pla-390920304216&psc=1 I believe they have a lifetime warranty. They are decent but I have had issues with them in the past when it gets extremely cold in that they freeze shut and I can't unlock them. Sometimes I need to throw warm water on them to unfreeze them and then need to bring the lock indoors to dry it off. What I probably need to do is add some heavy duty lubrication to the locking mechanism so they won't freeze shut during the winter months.

[@point6acre]

Thank you! Buying several today! @@smithmal01

[@bigsky445]

Thank you so much for sharing!! I absolutely love your setup!! Subscribed!! Jesus loves you!

[@robertoler3795]

well done

[@smithmal01]

Thanks for watching and the kind words

[@TinaShay]

Nice!

[@willmartin9215]

I think that there would be some pine trees cut down, instead of having the needles in the coop. I actually have about 16 on my 2 acres, which will all eventually go.

[@smithmal01]

Agree though unfortunately the pine needles are coming from the trees in my neighbor's yard.