Take a Tour of my New Chicken and Duck Run
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ธ.ค. 2015
- We built our new run ourselves. It measures approximately 18x40 and completely enclosed to keep our dozen ducks and 11 chickens safe from coyotes, foxes, owls, hawks and other predators on our property here in the woods of Maine.
At night they are locked in their coop but this run is NOW night predator-proof, it used to be just for daytime and I felt they were very safe by day in their new run, especially since we're home most of the time.
Visit my blog for a step-by-step instructional post about building our run.
Join me on Facebook at FreshEggsDaily
I LOVE HOW THE DUCKS GET QUIET FOR A SECOND WHEN YOU SHUSH THEM. SO PURE.
I am impressed that your ducks actually quieten (for a minute or two) when you shush them. Love your set up for the birds.
Mamma Kaye Lee oh I'm convinced they know when they're being bad!
Your ducks and chickens live in a castle with a view. Beautiful property.
DUCKS!!!! SHHHHHHHHUSHHHH!!!! Lol.....xD that was cracking me up. Great video my friend.
leadfarmer73 yeah! And I liked when they listened! Smart ducks!
😃
leadfarmer73 DUCKS!!!! Ginger
lol at first it was funny but after a while it started getting on my dam nerves. lol. I had to stop vid and move on. it's not a library. for crissakes. what did she think she was filming? a bunch o deaf mutes somewhere. geesh. she was more annoying than the darn ducks. it was a distraction for me cuz I couldn't focus on her hard work, I kept wondering when she was gonna SPANK THE DUCKS WITH HER BELT FOR BEING TOO DAM LOUD, LIKE HER AZZ. UGH. ANNOYING TO SAY THE LEAST. HAD TO STOP AND TURN TO OTHER VIDS OUT THERE. more quieter vids, with NO SPANKING DUCKS. LMAO. DAM
my ducks respond to "shhhh" too
aw I like how they actually got quiet. I wasn't expecting hem to listen
this is a gorgeous run.
That was a great tour and. Enjoyed it so much, many thanks from a city girl that can’t have chickens.
Oh you are welcome.
Your ducks look happy and healthy but I love your voice the most. " Ducks , Duck......." lol
I absolutely Adore your coop and run! Wow - you really covered your bases. I LOVED the little baskets with the cabbage and the short shepherd's hook.Thank you so very much for sharing.
This is so cool
Looks great! The ducks love it too! I think that is what they were talking about......lol Thanks for sharing.
Wow! Your coop and run is beautiful! Love the color........same as what I have on my coop.
I love everything you do Lisa! I just stumbled upon your book Fresh Eggs Daily in our local Tractor Supply and bought it! I haven't been disappointed and I'm learning so much, as we plan on getting our first 10 chicks next month. We have an Amish built shed that we are converting into a chicken coop and I can't wait to decorate it so that it's cute and pretty like yours! These chickens will be my family's pets so we plan on naming them all. Thank you for all of the inspiration!
Oh you are very sweet! I'm so glad you found me! I'm also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter @fresheggsdaily and of course my blog www.fresheggsdaily.com I also do a local TV show if you are more the 'video' type of person. The first four episodes are all here on TH-cam on the TV station account. ourmaine.com/shows/fresh-eggs-daily-lisa-steele/
Wow! looks great!
So many great ideas for the chickens and ducks! Thanks for the video
You bet!
I really love the green paint. You did a great job
Thanks! That's Benjamin Moore Galapagos Green.
Great coop and run!!
You have a nice place for your birds
Thank you!
very nice. It was funny when you told the ducks to shush. My girls are very noisy also.
funny how the ducks seem to listen to you when you tell them to be quiet (of course they start right back up again lol)
They don't behave very well sometimes.
Beautiful ❤
Thank you! 😊
Awesome!
Nice Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching
Nice set up. Need a wading pool for the ducks or a pond. I have a similar set up for my guinea fowl and banties. Thats what you need, some guineas. I love mine, they are tick eating machines, and they let you know if danger is around. I've seen them give snakes hell. LOL
well done...nice job
Cute run 😊
nice setup! beautiful property!
Thank you so much!
love it, and love Ginger!!
Oops sorry that was my brother who said that
Wrong person
Wow that is a very nice setup
Thank you ! We love it.
Great ideas thanks!!
You are so welcome!
Love it...
Greetings from Denmark. Your ducks are beautiful. They must be healthy.
Hello! Thank you. They are healthy...and happy to I hope!
You have a really nice setup
Thank you! We love it. I do want to expand the run at some point, but for now, it's really working well.
Thats nice.
Nice coop. I would say the top should cover with fence wire as well. Thanks for sharing.
Yes the top of the run is covered in 1" welded wire as well.
nice job......
That is nice and love you got some environment in the chicken run. A little more wouldn’t harm though😊
It's pretty difficult to keep things planted in the chicken run but I do my best.
@@FreshEggsDaily Yes I can see that👍🏻👍🏻❤️
NIce!
Nice coop. Would be nice for Florida, no snow to stack up on the roof.
I agree!
Ducks! SHHHH. Love that 😂😂
Wow the ducks actually shhh😺
very nice pen!! you gotta watch those drakes they dont take no for an answer
Salutare din Suceava România 🇦🇩.
Very cute! You might consider closing the whole top with mesh....
Sabra Sandee I'm still unsure what to do about the top. We get to much snow to really have something solid or with tiny holes. And the mesh isn't really predator proof. But I need to get it finished off somehow.
Nice
With it being such a large run it would be very expensive to do as I did. I put concrete blocks on top of the outside wire to make a chicken safe garden. It also holds down the perimeter wire and look good.
That's a great idea!
Hi, love your run. Any update on your roof especially related to snow piling up? Thank you
Nice pen. Do you remember the name of the green paint? It looks really nice and blends in well with the background.
I actually do. It's Benjamin Moore Galapagos Green. I really love the color.
I just got in. It's a beautiful chiken/duck run. How're they doing?
nice farm
Very nice! Getting ideas for my ducks. What did you use as their coop?
The ducks sleep on the floor of this coop.
I have that same kind of wire in my chicken coop
Wow, it’s so lovely! Do you ever need to clean out the run?
I never have. Everything just decomposes and turns into more dirt.
Your coop and run are an inspiration. Where do the ducks lay their eggs? Is it pretty much just anywhere?
They make themselves a nest on the floor.
Lisa. i went to ur blog. Famtastic. There's a greenhouse made with poles. Did u make that???
linda silver No it's actually a chicken run I was sent to test out.Iturned it into a garden instead.
Beautiful! I'd love to know what you ended up doing over the roof of the run, since we have a similar decision to make. Did you keep the netting and boards, or go with something else?
the netting is still up but I have 1 " wire that will go up this month.
Thank you so much for such a quick response :-)
Can I use treated (green pressured) wood to build the coop? Is it safe for the chickens?
Do you have all straw in the run or is it a combo of sand and straw? I'm trying to decide what to do for our run shared for the needs of both the chickens and ducks, thanks!
Actually just grass which then ended up being dirt. And I rake the straw from the coop into the run when I clean the coop.
Hi...is that duck house big enough for all the ducks during winter? Do they lay there eggs in there?
It's a really lovely run area for them....😊
No that little house is just their summer pool cabana. They sleep on the floor of the coop.
Your run is beautiful I was wondering how you keep your ducks poop from freezing in the winter I have some ducks to and don’t know how to keep it from freezing
It freezes... no problem.
@@FreshEggsDaily I meant pool sorry if that confused you 😂
Oh haha! I fill up large tubs for them and honestly they play in it so much, it rarely freezes solid. I use electric dog water bowls for them to drink out of.
So you bring the ducks into the coop at night as well? Do they normally just go right in, in the evening with the chickens?
Kassandra DeLong They need a little encouragement, but yes, die the most part they follow the chickens in.
Nice! Lisa, as a novice chicken owner....is it ok to keep ducks and chickens in the same coop? I heard the chickens can get diseases from the ducks?
+g schudlich Ducks don't get alot of the diseases that ducks do, so that really isn't an issue. I've kept mine together for years and never had an issue. Ducks do emit a lot of moisture when they breathe, but as long as your coop is really well ventilated, its not a problem. Ducks also poop alot so the corner where they sleep gets pretty messy, but I just rake it out each morning.
Thanks for the tour. I like your black check-ins I guess they're black australorps? The other hand I seen was black and white what kind is she that has the bright yellow legs? And what Hatchery did you get these chickens from they are just beautiful.
Jacky Waldon yes I have black Australorp and also some Ameraucanas that are black. The black and white is a mottled Java. I have gotten my chickens from all different sources - hatcheries, breeders, friends, I've hatched some, gotten some as chicks...
Lisa Steele. I hate auto check. I just seen that it said check ins instead of chickens. LOL. Yes the Java is a beautiful breed. Thank you for your reply back I appreciate it. Have a great day.
Do the chicken help clean up after the ducks we’ve got 7 ducks in a pen and they are very messy just wonder if the chickens would help clean up after they mess if we put them in there together
Clean up how? Not sure I understand?
That looks great! I had to separate my ducks from my chickens. My drakes kept raping the chickens. It was pretty awful for the chickens AND for me.
This is so weird! My Gregory has never bothered the chickens!
That's good. I had heard of this happening, but didn't think it would happen to my girls. Then I found my Silkie and my Sultan in a bad way. I thought the Silkie was dead. It took her a month to recover. She's doing well now. I got rid of one of my boys. The other is in another pen with my girl duck now.
Chickens like shade!! You will need a shade area for them
Thanks for your concern. We live in Maine so it doesn't get hot here, and the sun isn't very strong for the majority of the year, but yes, I realize that. Been raising chickens for years. The run is partially covered with a solid plywood roof. That's where the dust bath, feed and water are. The run is also shaded by the coop a bit once the sun moves around AND I put up shade cloth in the summer. I have a whole video and blog post about that. So thanks for your concern, but honestly your run needs sun to kill pathogens, so I am not a fan of the solid roof that I see on so many runs.
I approve.
Lisa what a great coop. can i get u to give me some advice for my coop? on my property is a horse run.in. I'd like to turn that into a coop and run. Are there videos of how u built your coop and run?
I bought the coop from Horizon Structures, but we did build the run. Here you go. Not video, but plenty of photos: www.fresheggsdaily.com/2016/03/building-predator-proof-chicken-run.html
+Lisa of Fresh Eggs Daily Oh thank you so much!!
+Lisa of Fresh Eggs Daily. WOW and thanks. I even see how to connect the two. You Rock!!!
Do you have an update on what you did with the duck pond? I'll go look :)
Ha! I do. Nothing. We're still using the kiddie pool.
@@FreshEggsDaily did you run into trouble with it?
@@GoodPersonTestWebsite No just no time!
Does it get very muddy after rain?
For just a bit then it dries out. The ground is slightly sloped and the sun helps dry it pretty quickly.
Feed me mama!
What is it about your run that makes it NOT predator proof during the night?
+TheDigglesFamily The part of the top with the wooden slats? Those spaces are about 3" apart. A small raccoon or possum could get in that way, as could a weasel or mink. Also, the rest has plastic poultry netting over it - temporarily. In order to feel safe about leaving our ducks or chickens out all night, I would want 1/2" hardware cloth on the entire run and would also probably sink the fencing down a bit deeper than the 8" we did. It's a long, dark night for predators to try to get in.
Do you use the deep litter method in your run as well as your coop? Also, what type of hay do you use? I was told to be careful because some hay and straw are treated with chemicals
No I dont do anything in the run except rake the messy straw from the coop into it through the spring, summer and fall. The run is just dirt. I don't use hay at all. I doubt hay is treated because it's harvested as an animal food. Straw is animal bedding. Again, I doubt treated. I mean why? That would just cost the farmer money. Straw is animal bedding, so no need to treat it with anything. Hope that helps.
Thank you! That eases my mind about the straw. And it also lets me know that it's okay that the floor of my run is just dirt! Do you rake the run out? How do you clean the floor of the run, or does it ever need cleaned? I'm a new chicken mamma and concerned about them walking in poo. Thanks again!!
I have found that I liked having straw even in the run. It gives the chickens/ducks something to dig through. They might actually find bugs! As well as I can clean it up and put in new straw. Otherwise, over time, their poop does create a layer where you'll be walking, and well, that's just kind of gross to know you're walking on a layer of poop.
The other reason is that when it does rain, that section of the run won't get all soggy and muddy. The straw acts as a barrier.
But that's just how I found it that I liked using straw. Many people just have the bare ground in the run.
I never really clean the run. Sometimes I do rake the old straw out, but really it just disintegrates and disappears and the run stays sort of hard-packed dirt.
I have 2 ducks 21 chickens 9 turkeys 5 pigs 1 rooster on 6 acres of land
Lisa, I think you're forgetting about one other predator; one who can get through those bars on the roof and through the netting on the roof: SNAKES. I know you're in Maine, but there are snakes in all 50 states. Think about that. Otherwise, it's nice. I'd consider getting the hanging food dispenser and hanging water dispenser too, rather than leaving the food and water in bowls on the ground. Ducks have an almost instinctive urge to submerge themselves in any sitting water, don't they?
You're right that snakes can get through. We have actually since replaced the netting with 1" welded wire, as an aside...but here in Maine there are no venomous snakes. There are some small "constrictor" type that would go after a baby chicks, but that's part of the reason why we used the 1/2" along the bottom 3 feet. I've never seen a snake near the coop or run much less IN it. It's true that using 1/2" on the entire run would have made it more predator-proof, but you have to use your best judgement and weigh the risk/reward/cost etc. I'm not concerned about snakes getting in, there are enough field mice for them to eat elsewhere.
I assume you don't have ducks? You can't use gravity feeders and waterers with ducks because they empty them immediately and everything ends up on the ground, also becuase they ARE ducks, yes they need deep enough water to submerge their entire heads. The chickens have no issue with drinking out of the tubs, and in fact our dogs will go and drink out of the duck pool when they have perfectly clean water in their own dish. I think we, as humans, put too much weight on crystal-clear water. As long as you're scrubbing out the tubs and dishes and refilling them daily, it's going to be fine. But thanks for your comments. I agree, you need to access the predators where you live and build accordingly.
Nope, no ducks here. :) The other thing the snakes might go for is their eggs. When the chickens and ducks are the run, is the door to the coop shut? I guess that would protect your eggs from the snakes. Thanks again for the video. Good stuff!
SO yes, when the chickens are in their run, the large coop door is shut. We used to live in Virginia and when the chickens were out free ranging, and the large coop door was open, occasionally a black rat snake would get in and curl up in a nesting box and eat the eggs. No real way to prevent that if you free range obviously since the coop needs to be open for the chickens to go in to lay their eggs!
Wow. But no pond for ducks?
Nope. Being domestic ducks they can't fly, so they are incredibly vulnerable even on the water and I would be afraid I wouldn't be able to get them off a pond. I fill a kiddie pool for them nearly even day in the warm months. Even a decent sized pond would get mucked up pretty fast unless it were running water...
Researching in Britain I learned that waterfowl and poultry are not supposed to live together there because of disease. They have very strict rules due to avian flu, among other diseases. I had never run across that before. I don't understand yet why running ducks and chickens together would cause a problem. I wonder if anyone has any information on that. It isn't against the law, apparently, but for hygiene it is "not best practice." (They have warnings about going to farms and shows and the need to disinfect footwear AND change your clothes if you get near animals. I hadn't seen people showing livestock in white lab coats before.) They are also very negative about having wild birds around domestic birds, which makes sense to me because wild birds can spread disease, but as a practical measure it is a bit difficult, especially putting netting over a pond to keep out the "invaders." I can understand their caution. Between that and hoof and mouth, some breeds that were concentrated in certain parts of the country had gene pools that were put in jeopardy by the culling. For poultry, for awhile, in England, trying to raise them free range was almost impossible. In order to buy and ship sheep to your farm you need a farm number for the govt to keep track of you and you can apply for them to give you alerts in case of an outbreak, so you can go into lock down, so to speak. As far as raising game birds from eggs, most people give up on it and just raise the poults. The commercial game bird hatcheries look like the future world where people go to the lab to pick the child they want. :) It is unbelievably clinical. They are going to make sure those birds that get released aren't diseased from either parent or from other chicks or the environment! They are absolutely not messing around with this, having gone through such tragedy already. The US hasn't had a major outbreak in so long we tend to be casual about our practices, although the govt does try to stop us from shipping disease around the country. It's just, you know, a REALLY BIG country. :) And it is full of an awful lot of people selling, swapping, or giving animals to each other. :)
I've raised chickens and ducks together for more than a decade without any issues. Ducks can be carriers of several illnesses that can infect chickens, but there is far more risk from wild birds and waterfowl as you mention. There can be problems with blackhead when raising chickens and turkeys together, but chickens and ducks - no issues at all for me.
Biosecurity is important in any farm situation.www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2012/07/backyard-biosecurity.html
I don't like ducks. With their clucking they would stress the chickens. I would use the same kind of wire on the roof with enough wood rails in between and then over that the clear plastic roofing material to prevent rain making a mess of that dirt floor! I would also add more wood post rails for the chickens to stoop on.
Im sorry you don't like ducks. We love ours. I actually think I need a pitched run roof because we get so much snow here in Maine and I am afraid that a flat roof would eventually collapse. Also, the ground in the run is sloped a bit so it has good drainage. I don't want the whole run covered, the run also washes away some of the poop!
There is not a single person on this earth who cares about what you don't like, or what you would do instead of something someone else did. In fact, we'd just rather not hear it from you. Thanks!
+Areus White Well said! Why people cant drink their own poison I don't know!!
duck shuuuuuuuuhhhh....
New sub. Love the run! Check us out at Scratch Made Homestead on YT.
Those ducks must be annoying just put them in the oven jk.n
+jasin gurung No! We love our ducks!
+Lisa of Fresh Eggs Daily oops sorry my brother did that
Chuckles!
Awesome!