Nest Boxes For Ducks
What dimensions are best for nest boxes for medium large ducks?
Somewhere I read 18"x18" with a 3" or 4" front to keep the eggs in and 12" sides and back. Just for comparison the same article said 24"x24" for geese. Seams right. We did 12"x12" for chickens and they are smaller than ducks, well the Pekings at least. Hope this helps and is not to late.
I've found that ducks & geese are happiest with a pile of hay in a corner of the pens in the barn. In spite of that, the bantam ducks also enjoy making a depression in the dirt under the ramps to their inside pens. Only my wild waterfowl use boxes.
Ditto to Evy, most of our Muscovy ducks liked nest boxes and they seemed to be split about evenly between bantam chicken boxes and large fowl boxes (they were kept in a large chicken coop along with chickens). None of the other domestic ducks showed any interest in nest boxes.
I've got my goose nesting in a 400 size varikennel that I padded with oat straw. She seems to like that quite well.
I'm going to have to figure something else out for next time. That's a bit expensive to use as a nest box and I'm afraid it will be damaged by sitting out in the sun.
I have no idea whether it is the size of the box that she likes, or the fact that it has narrow "windows" about her eye level all the way around, so she can see out and nobody else can see in. It probably feel very secure.
In my former location I had a small old barn for my rouen ducks. I put chicken wire on the rafters and using good old baling twine, hung pieces of pegboard and plywood about every 20" as nest dividers. For more privacy, I hung some more pieces in front of the openings, leaving room for a duck to enter each nesting area. A thick layer of straw helped stabilize the "walls" which were about 20" high.
Favorite nesting places for a couple of ducks continued to be under thorny bushes in the yard that I always raided when found, but the indoor ones worked for some of the ducks. Larger plastic pet carriers might work.
I recently built four nest boxes under the milk stanchion in the goat barn which I have converted to the duck's barn. Most of my ducks have taken up laying in the nest boxes. A couple still drop their eggs outside in the pen.
One of my geese has discovered the duck nest boxes and makes a bee line for the duck barn when she is ready to lay her egg. I have a red maple planted in a circle of slump stones with slump stone walls running from it on opposite sides. One of those walls makes an L about 20 inches from the big O which forms a U that they like to nest in. Two of my geese vie for which one gets to lay her egg there. Sometimes they both are on the nest. It is out in the open and in the direct sun. The only protection is the three walls that they can see over.
I was wondering if fastening geese in their pen for about a week with their covered nest box would encourage them to lay in their own nests?
My son just finished the nest boxes. The coop now has sturdy "benches" along 2 walls and the cans for storing feed are on top of those benches.
Under the benches, the space is divided into stalls. Larger stalls on one wall, smaller stalls on the other. The ducks will have a choice. Size was determined by the length of the walls and the location of the door.
I've got one duck who loves to sleep in the salt pan that I use for oyster shell. She would probably lay in that. If it turns out the ducks like to lay in them, I can purchase some more and place them in the larger stalls.
All the ducks use a brush shelter that I originally built to encourage the local quail to hang out. So I suspect they would lay in that. They have to duck down to get into it. They won't have access to it at night, so I hope I won't have to crawl under it to retrieve eggs.
Mary, when my goose started laying, she just found a pile of straw. I picked up the straw and put it into the dog kennel and she moved with the nesting material and egg. When I had to move the geese to a new pen, I simply picked up the kennel, goose, eggs, and all and carried them to their new home and she stuck with the nest.
I've only got the one goose, so I don't know if all geese act the same, but mine has an intense maternal attachment to her eggs and will go where the eggs go.
Geese aren't as fond of covered boxes as ducks & chickens, who like to hide, are. They prefer a pile of hay where they can see what's happening around them. An old tire full of hay works well. Mine pull the hay into a corner of their inside pen. A friend, who geese nested outside, used to make them a ''tent'' of 2 sheets of plywood. It sheltered them but still provided a view for both the goose & the gander who'll stand guard.
We use the plywood a-frames outdoors and also 30"x24" wide oval containers for nest foundations for the geese. Mine would have nothing to do with tires. -Or barrels or anything else we paid for. They seem to really like the oval shape of the containers and will nest in them of their own accord. They prefer a pile of hay or straw, but there is such a problem with fire ants that I use the containers even in the barn. I place containers and materials (bales of hay and straw) out between nests for them and they build their own nests to suit themselves. I have to put DE under and in the bottoms of the containers and haven't had a big problem with fire ants in the container nests since I started using it. I had lost a fair number of goslings the first year due to fire ants attacking the newly hatched, even in January and February.
I wish ants weren't such a problem! It would be so nice to let the geese nest wherever they chose. (It would be nice to be able to walk barefoot outside again!) The containers need drain holes for outdoor use, though, and those would allow entry for ants. The effectiveness of the DE seems to degrade over time when a goose is sitting, probably due to increased moisture, and must be reapplied close to hatch time. They don't like it and I hate to disturb the nests, but it sure beats the alternative. Fire ants are predators and the one I have least recourse against. Seems like everything else can be shot, trapped, or controlled! The ant subject should be on a separate thread, I suppose. It just goes hand-in-hand with the subject of nests around here.
Invasive fire ants can be controlled. I think Texas has both native and invasive types but since your post implies that they are a recent problem I expect you have the invasive type known as red imported fire ants. The common consumer theatment is with Amdro bait this is a very slow tedious project since the bait is only good for 3 months after opening, moisture sensitive, the bait can be deactivated by a heavy dew let alone rain and it can take as much as 3 months to get to the queens and kill them. It can be done and I have used it to clear my land of fire ants (only took 3 years) BTW the DE only kills the workers that walk through in and almost never gets to the queens which can produce workers faster than you can kill them. Pros can get Acephate for direct application to the mounds, but this has bad effects on birds and the applicator will insist on a release for any damage done to your poultry. On a much higher level there is the production and introduction of ant-decapitating flys by the government this is the best bet but it is only a natural control that works when the ant population is high. when the population of ants is low the flys die off due to lack of food. Get some Amdro bait in stations that protect it from moisture and your birds is the advise I have for you. ~gdOriginally Posted by Shepherd
Thank you, Goosedragon. Fire ants are not a recent occurrence. Geese are. We have been here for 10 years now, but our terrain is such that 2/3 of our acreage is unusable and we cannot put poisons out in any of that area because of a drainage easement. Texas is nothing a giant fire ant mound and it is an extremely frustrating and discouraging problem. I sincerely doubt the flies could die off from lack of food. The ants are active all winter long given enough cover. They nest under anything laid down for more than 10 minutes, it seems. I will look for them. Any recommendations for a source and do you happen to know the scientific name for them so that I can find them? But first a question: I use fly predators (the tiny wasps) to aid in fly control and between those and beneficial nematodes, they really make a noticeable reduction in the fly population. Would these flies also be prey for the fly predators? That would be throwing money away.
I'm not a tree-hugger, per se, but do try to use as many organic practices as possible for the sake of the geese and goats. The birds will eat Amdro (and it's not known for being pet-friendly, either), so that was never a consideration. The nematodes supposedly will kill a mound, but it requires such a high dose that it's just too expensive for the number of mounds in place -and it's best to assume it's a 15-acre mound here. I've used corn meal and cream of wheat and nothing seems to make a dent in the population. I admire your pperseverance and success.
Last year we had some large red ants, close to 1/2" in size, start to move in. They make big holes for the entrance to their nest (nickel to quarter sized), leave lentil-sized, gravelly residue around the entrance, but are not aggressive. They will bite if annoyed, though -Yow! We have not had a red ant population in this area of North Texas since the fire ants invaded. I am not sure what they are, but I have been told that they will run the fire ants out as they move in. I have no idea what the long-term effect will be. They seem like harvesters and do not bother the birds unless provoked. It will be a few years before the population is large enough to rid us of fire ants, but I hope it's not something that will turn out to be a worse problem. They have to be pretty hardy to stand against the fire ants and all the hybrids they've developed.
I know the DE isn't effective to kill mounds, but if it does seem to be pretty effective in deterring them from foraging or nesting under the goose nests and in keeping them out of the nests. It's at least something. I consider it nothing more than a deterrent, but it seems to be pretty effective in dry areas.
~gd
Have you tried taking a shovel full of ants from one nest and dropping them onto another nest. Then taking a shovel full of ants from the second nest and dropping them onto the first nest?
It's supposed to start a war. Since I don't have an ant problem, myself, I haven't tried it, but I know people who swear it works.
I never had much of a fire ant problem when in Houston. The occasional mound, but since the birds did nest in a corner of the barn, it was not a problem. Any corner, with hay. Horses were no concern, unless they tried to eat the hayThe geese and horses lived well together.
In MO, the peckerfaces are everywhere. I've got ducks nesting in milk crates, boxes, corners, you name it. A few just drop eggs where-ever they happen to be at the time...in the duck enclosure. They used to nest in raised plant beds in the front yard. I've finally discouraged them from that....after several wrecked gardens. They just go to where the spirit moves them....
I have not. But it sounds as if it would make a great video. I somehow don't think I want to be a maib character.Trying this on my phone and finding fingers much too fae -and no specs. GD, I' answer you later, but thank you. On our way to a show in AR.
the Phorid flies Genus Pseudacteon are fairly tiny flies but I don't know if they would be targets for your fly preditors or not perhaps your Land Grant college in Texas can advise, and they would be the most likely source for your phorid flies anyway. The ones in actual use are Pseudacteon tricuspis and Pseudacteon curvatus. Their life cycle is interesting. They reproduce by laying eggs in the body of the ant. The first stage of the larvae eats the heads of ants from the inside out including the brains. With severe brain damage the ant zombies wander about for about two weeks before the heads drop off. The fly pupates in the head section and the cycle starts over again
Solenopsis daguerrei a parasitic ant tries to replace the queen and control the nest other biological controls are also being tried using the flies and ants as vectors to deliver diseases to the ants. The agents include a protozoan, a fungus and a virus. Since there is some concern that these might also attack bees they may not be released for use since the bees are vital to our food chain.
Thanks, gd! That's exactly the info I needed. I'll get with the folks that supply my biologicals next week after the Ohio National and see what they can do about getting me some. I'll have to check compatibility with the fly predators.
Angela, my folks used to live in Houston and they didn't have near the problem with them I had up here near Fort Worth. They had worse problems with termites. I also have a problem in raised beds. They're just the favorite spot for nests! I miss the Northeast and 4 seasons (albeit a long winter) and not having the constant insect problem. I think a lot of my prblem stems from the land being overtaken by Mother Nature. This used to be a huge dairy area, but not so anymore. The land was not used for many years. We went through MO going to the Crossroads show. It was beautiful! So was AR last weekend. I'd forgotten what the leaf color looked like!In MO, the peckerfaces are everywhere. I've got ducks nesting in milk crates, boxes, corners, you name it. A few just drop eggs where-ever they happen to be at the time...in the duck enclosure. They used to nest in raised plant beds in the front yard. I've finally discouraged them from that....after several wrecked gardens. They just go to where the spirit moves them....
I had a significant ant problem, no fire ants, just the usual big black, black and red, and solid red ones this summer. I got tired or new dens popping up so I got out the Amdro (probably 3 years old...in the desert we don't have products ruined from the humidity) and doctored all the dens. Because they were all where my ducks, geese and chickens forage I covered each area with crates weighed with rocks or cinder blocks and boards where none of my birds could reach the ants or poison. I got rid of all the ant dens and no more invaded this summer. They seam to move in from the vacant land around me on a regular basis. Something about nature abhorring a vacuum. Maybe, if you want to try it you would have some success with this method. One in chicken wire framed and supported several inches above ground and the sides enclosed could make a safe area to poison and it could be much larger than I had. It would be something you could use to move from mound to mound as you had one controlled. I had using poisons for any reason. I have found there are some things that is the only way to deal with. Ants and ianthus (sounds like) trees are at the top of the list. Boric acid is very effective on small ants and cockroaches. Being an acid it is less damaging to plants and animals if they do get it on them or into it. Hope this helps you. Mary
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