Chickens or ducks....I guess that is more of a personal preference. They do graze differently, and ducks may be noisier (just from what I've heard! I've only kept chickens, but hope to work with ducks soon). I personally have a soft spot in my heart for chickens, but ducks are fine creatures as well. Maybe try a bit of both and see what you prefer, and what seems to mesh best with your other production ideas?
I've heard that ducks can be a bit sloppier feeders, but don't mess with gardens as much?.....someone else will have to give advice on ducks.
You may be able to purchase electric poultry netting at your
local farm and home store, or you may strike out. It's readily available on the internet, but I know the farm store near me stocks the stuff. It's a bit pricey, but from what I understand it's worth it. If the cost puts you off, you could get creative with some of the electrified horse rope (electrified nylon rope or "tape") and use extra
fence insulators (if the price is right) to create your own system. Maybe 5 strands of the tape spaced over 3 feet? But chances are, by the time you do that, you could have ordered the fencing, and saved yourself a few headaches. Moving the poultry netting will probably be much easier than moving the strapping system as well. It depends on how you want your system set up.
My fence was more for predators, and I used 18ga (I think) galvanized steel wire. I also didn't move mine, but I wish I had used the nylon stuff because stretching the wire so it looked nice ended up bending the metal stakes......I saved money, but not time or frustration. The steel wire bends and kinks, and has no give in it (so it bends the stakes if a dog runs into it, or a large and very motivated rooster).
Learn from my mistakes! Sometimes you can find an electric fencing guide near the fence chargers at the farm store, and if you feel a little confused, it's worth buying as well. It helped me a lot, but that was my first electric fence.
Number of chickens in that space....depends on how much space you really want to use, and how intensively you want to use it. It really depends on the carrying capacity of your specific ground (how much food it produces), and how much you plan to
feed them. Also consider their waste. The article I attached suggests WAY too many birds in my opinion, but it depends on the operation and style of management. If you have a creek nearby, LOTS of birds may be a bad idea (runoff). However, it sounds like you're not looking to really load down your
land.
Here's some info that may be of help, although it's geared for more commercial enterprises:
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/poultryoverview.html#table1 I imagine people with more
experience in the paddock system can offer you better advice on numbers, carrying capacity, etc.
There was a recent post about the history of domesticated chickens, and I can't seem to locate it now. Anyone got it? It mentioned which breeds were best suited to cool climates.
Anyway, hope my info on the fencing helps.
