We’ve had chickens for a while now, but just recently we added two Pekin Ducks to the mix. They are so fun, sweet and adorable that it’s easy to forgive them for how incredibly messy they are!
Due to our longer than normal cold temperatures, the ducks ended up staying in the brooder for a lot longer than we wanted. They grew at an amazingly fast rate! On warmish days, we would take them outside for the day (in a protected area) and bring them inside at night. Grace would give them some swim time and then dry them off with a hairdryer! They loved it!
Eventually, we would give them a bath in an outdoor tub but we kept having to find bigger and bigger tubs!
Fortunately, Rosie is really good around them and for the most part they aren’t too bothered by her. Though if she gets too close, they let us know!
We’ve put their duck house by our chicken coop. Our coop was a design by Heather Bullard and we tried to keep the duck house in line with the same look to it. We painted them both the same color as our garden shed since they are all right next to each other.
We put a trough in their area so that they could swim around whenever they wanted. We added a duck deck and ramp for easy access. It’s important that ducks be able to get wet and dip their heads in water as it is how they clear/clean their nostrils and distribute oil on their feathers.
On hot days, I’ve taken to putting my beach umbrella out so that they can have some shade. They are living their best life.
They are now fully feathered and snow white! They seem to be happy in their new home and have even been trained to go in at night. We have an automatic door on the duck house as we do on the coop. We don’t ever want to take a chance with a raccoon visiting them if we aren’t home at their bedtime.
