Ducks, Geese and Turkey Setups

[Machias]

Anyone mind sharing how you house and protect your Ducks?  Geese?  Turkeys?  I've had chickens and know how to safeguard them and house them.  Not sure on the other three.  Photos would be GREAT!  Any recommendations on breeds of ducks, some you really like and some to steer clear of?  Same with Geese.  I'm good on the turkey breeds.  Thanks!

Oh and I don't/won't have a pond.

[Machias]

Well, I have 4 Muscovy Ducks coming this weekend, 2 that are a year old, a drake and a hen and 2 hens that are three weeks old.  The 2 young ones are the dark spotted one and the spotted one next to her.  I'll have to keep them separated for a while until the young ones get a bit bigger.  For some reason I'm having trouble posting photos this morning.

[Machias]

Brought home the three in front on Saturday.

[Justhunt]

My wife really likes muscovy  ducks. I think she has thirty or more. She said the ones with spots are called wild type. She said you have two black base birds and the others are chocolate based birds. When you have a hen that is broody take advantage of it they are hard to hatch in an incubator. I think there is a way to tell if they are going to have a barred pattern when they are fully feathered but ripple pattern you have to wait and see.

[Justhunt]

We don't have a pond. When it gets hot we just put out a kid pool to let them have fun. She always leaves out a few large water dishes for them. Ours also use buckets with water nipples hanging from the fence for drinking. They like to forage and they like to get bugs. We let ours out as much as possible but they are very quiet birds and you will not hear if something is getting them. We have two livestock guardian dogs we have trained to  be bird safe that take care of all the yotes, Bobcats, raccoons and stuff away. They also fly very well so you need to cover them or clip wings. You will know they can fly when they are standing on top of your house and sleep there for a week before you can catch them. We have three separate enclosures for them and have good ventilation in the coops. They are perching ducks so we have stumps and logs in the enclosures for them to stand on. She has two breeding males that she rotates females in with to check genetics and get the colors and patterns she wants. When the young males get bigger she will separate from the breeding females. They are good eating and the eggs are good also.

[Justhunt]

If you are getting them for egg production they are not the best for that. They  have a short laying season.

[Machias]

Thanks for all of that Justhunt!!  I picked up two more hens on Friday, I think my lone hen was really happy to see them so the Drake could share his attention!!    I like them a lot and did not get them just for the eggs, although the eggs I have gotten are really nice and a bonus, they do not mess with my stomach like chicken eggs do!  Thanks again!!!

[Machias]

Here's the two hens I picked up on Friday, the top one and the bottom one.

[Justhunt]

Those are black magpie muscovies

[Justhunt]

Here are some of my wife's birds. She likes the solids and is breeding out the white heads. The first pic are the predator patrol. First pic is Freya, second is Oden and third is them checking on the new ducklings.

[Justhunt]

First pic is a buff hen, second is a blue hen with barring, third is a blue drake with ripple pattern, forth is  a dark chocolate hen, fifth has some of them grazing but the one with the silver head is a silver hen, sixth is a blue drake and a black drake.

[Justhunt]

Oops here is the silver hen with some of the flock and a couple of randoms the wife sent me

[Justhunt]

Not the best picture but you can see the blue water buckets with water nipples hanging from the fence. She just likes to have fresh water for them because they make a mess of the open ones on the ground when they bathe and clean their nostrils.

[Justhunt]

We have a bunch of stumps and logs in the enclosures for them. They all like them but hens will also use them to get away from the drakes. These are some of the nesting boxes in the coops (they are stacked for storage). They are cheap and have a lid so you can open the top and check on hen and not pull them out. In the coops we also like to put rounds of wood they really like them at night. They will not use the 2x4 perches at all.

[Justhunt]

Here is the front of the breeding pens coops. I need to finish building covers over the doors. The covers now are just temporary. The new ones will be bigger and it helps to keep the native birds from going inside. We had problems with that before. Also when it snows it keeps the front door open better and helps keep the western Washington rain from blowing in. The  last pic is the drake grow out pen. Future dinner if someone doesn't buy them before they end up in the freezer.