Brandon and I spent some time this past weekend creating a duck paddock (padduck… get it?!) by running chicken wire and t-posts out from the duck run. It’s not the most beautiful fence ever, but it seems to work just fine to contain our big, heavy, non-flying buddies. Because it is decidedly not predator-proof, we’ve so far only let the ducks out there when we’re home to supervise.

The fence runs along the driveway for a stretch, as you can see in the first photo above. There’s a culvert under the drive, which outflows into the paddock. You can barely see it below, but there’s a decent pool of water (mini-pond) at the outflow point, which then narrows into a shallow stream and flows down to the river.

The ducks have been very cautious so far–so much so, that they haven’t even discovered the pond and stream they now have access to! Here’s a video from the first time we let them out… definitely not a mad rush to get out! They spent the first several minutes just nibbling on greens barely over the threshold.

They eventually did find their way out but still didn’t go far. Too much good grass to snack on just outside the door.

Here’s a video from a couple days ago. They’re becoming a bit braver, but still haven’t ventured into the tall brush along the stream. Next project will be to do some weed-wacking along the bank so that they can more easily see it and hopefully venture over into that section.

In the meantime, I know they’re enjoying the increased access to green snacks!