We have
chickens and are considering getting 17 laying ducks from a friend because I know they are better foragers, especially for slugs on our
mushrooms. The issue I have is that if we let
chickens or ducks roam free to forage, around 8 pm before chickens/potential ducks go in the coop there are racoons that can pick them off. So we ended up having to put electric netting around the
chickens. We would have to do the same for the ducks and it's not that easy to
fence in a mushroom area for example. So then if we have to net in the ducks, even if we rotate them, would they really forage THAT much more than chickens? Our last chickens foraged a ton when we didn't have predator issues. Now with it being super dry and the new chickens in a smaller area they aren't foraging as much. Is there another solution people have come up with besides electric netting for evening?
We don't want to get a dog because we don't want to buy industrial dog food and we don't want a dog in the house because of ticks/Lyme. We are off-grid so heating pads are no-go, I know a dog outside is doable even without a heating pad, but the industrial dog food thing is a real bummer.
Thanks! - Courtney
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