The last time we visited the zoo Bo talked about raising exotic birds, and having it fenced with bird netting to keep the wild animals out. Obviously we couldn’t do it at our old house and at that time I thought it would be great living in the country and having a little petting zoo of our own. Once we moved here, I knew I wanted to raise chickens for eggs and had no idea that Bo was going to raise ducks. I don’t think it was part of the plan. Bo has a friend that wanted to get rid of his Muscovy ducks and Bo bought all 13 ducks back in December of last year. Then we had several ducklings hatched and we probably have close to 100 ducks now. They obviously need a bigger place, and it took a while to put this together, and mainly because of the lack of time. We finally had it done over the 3 days Memorial Day weekend. Bo and I did the fencing, and my dad and sister helped putting up the netting and the door.
The chickens and ducks run is about 30 ft wide x 80 ft long. It’s a 6 foot fence and the bird netting is pulled up by the cable that’s inspired by the zip line that I saw at the Xtreeme Challenge.
These are the 2nd generation Muscovy ducks and Bo got them when they were little ducklings back in February. He had 2 batches that hatched after this Not all the ducks have moved to the new run yet, some are still at the old duckpins and he has the Indian runner ducks, and Mallards that need to be moved.
Bo didn’t buy all the ducks, some were given to him by stanger and co-worker. He picked up 4 ducklings at someone’s house because their kids don’t want them after Easter, they got his number from Tractor Supply that he visits on a regular basis. One of them is the white Pecking duck in the picture below. Last weekend his co-worker called and asked him to pickup her Grandma’s ducks, she had 5 that she couldn’t care for anymore. They arrived on Monday and seemed happy at their new home.
I have a few chickens that Bo purchased from the Statesville stock sales.
I was skepticle at first if chicken and ducks can live together in the same run and they seem happy together. They eat the same food, and share water so it works out great for Bo. We will have to move the remaining ducks in the next week or so.
