Duck pen build - Duckingham Palace

I've been researching and planning and obsessing and nagging for the last few months, and we finally broke ground on what I've been referring to as "Duckingham Palace." It's a 12x12 duck pen in the corner of our small suburban lot. The plan for the pen is that it be a predator-resistant permanent enclosure that the ducks can live in 24/7, with supervised free ranging in the fenced back yard during evenings and weekends. I've been collecting components for it over the last couple months, so I have a large plastic pond liner shell that I'm drilling(!) and installing a shower drain in, and a doghouse that I've modified so that the roof is hinged and lifts up for easy access to eggs and for cleaning. The pond will eventually get hooked up to some sort of duckponics setup with a large sump for growing fodder located outside of the enclosure, but that'll be after I have the ducks and things have calmed down a bit.







Here's the site. We went with untreated lumber to avoid any unplanned for chemicals leaching into the soil and affecting the ducks who's eggs we'll be eating. To prevent too much lumber-to-ground contact, we buried pier blocks into the sandy soil, and used those as a base. Half of the enclosure will be roofed with clear polycarbonate to give me a dryish place for food and the duck house, and half will be covered in 2x4" welded wire mesh to allow the ducks to enjoy our Seattle rain, but keep raccoons and hawks and whatnot out.






The top run of wire will be 4' tall (connecting up to the 2x6" header) 2x4" welded wire mesh, and the bottom 2' of the run will be 1/2" hardware cloth that's been buried a foot into the ground to prevent digging. The slope should help with drainage.

Any input? Constructive criticism is definitely appreciated, I'd rather know that I'm making mistakes before I build them into the design.

Two thumbs up for the 1/2" hardware cloth buried underground. I did that a year and a half ago and have had no issues with predators. Of course I also covered the sides and top in 1/2" hardware cloth too, lol...I wasn't taking any chances. Before that I had a pen just sitting on the ground and while I was building this big new one an opossum dug under one evening and scared my ducks and I half to death! Luckily no one was harmed, they ran in their house and he was just a little youngster opossum, but I was a blubbering terrified mess. The ducks lived in my bathroom until the new pen got finished a week later, haha.
I also like your partial solid roof idea. Mine is all hardware cloth and it is difficult to keep them and their food dry. I would very much like to remodel my enclosure soon...maybe I'll wait and see how yours turns out?
Overall, it sounds like you have really done your research. Those are some lucky ducks you've got!

Welp, definitely not much interest, but I will continue updating as I do the build.

The pond drain project has been a bit of a saga. The preformed pond liners are made of HDPE (high density polyethylene) which is a plastic that is pretty much designed to be minimally reactive and not stick to anything, including glue, silicone, etc. It's the type of plastic that milk cartons, gas cans, and garbage cans are made of. It makes a great pond liner as it repels water and is inexpensive to produce. It makes a terrible surface to try to seal to though.

Not counting on the used pond liner to be anything more than flimsy and flexible (it is extremely both of those things), I decided to sandwich the part of the liner that I'm drilling between 1/4" sheets of polyethylene in an attempt to add some rigidity to the surface that that we mount the drain on. But I had to buy a special type of glue designed specifically for adhering to HDPE. It has been a bit of a cluster, but we are trying to "overbuild" the drain portion to prevent too much leakage down the road. I'm still not sure if this glue is going to be particularly effective in sealing the 3 layers of HDPE together, but at this point it's the only option, and I am hesitant to try investing much more money into trying to make this work. Either way, we will have some clamping from the shower drain that I got, so I am counting on leakage being minimal. Craig is far more pessimistic, but here's hoping I can prove him wrong! Here's the pond liner (curing)in an unused corner of the family room that has begun collecting various duck-related paraphernalia.



I also began excavation for the pond, however having it in the family room has made it a little difficult to effectively "fit" the hole to the pond, but I used the measuring tape and I think I properly situated the drain location.





As I've been digging, I've also started collecting rocks(and scavenging from other parts of the yard) to build up a small "retaining wall" around the downhill portion of the pond and lay around the pond to reduce mud.





If we get a break in the rain this week, I'll get the tops of the posts cut off and start "framing" the ceiling portion of the pen so I can get the roofing installed before the wire goes up.

Can't wait to see the finished product!

I have the same duck house! I am planning on painting it this weekend to try and extend it's life. Plus, it needs to match the lavender chicken coop;-)

If you can't find any sort of caulk/glue/adhesive to work on the plastic pond liners you can try 5200 marine sealant. I use it on my boat regularly, and on a few other non-boat projects. It works great and has stuck to everything I have used it on, including a garden water feature. Just be sure to give it plenty of dry time.

jenniemig said:

I have the same duck house! I am planning on painting it this weekend to try and extend it's life. Plus, it needs to match the lavender chicken coop;-)

If you can't find any sort of caulk/glue/adhesive to work on the plastic pond liners you can try 5200 marine sealant. I use it on my boat regularly, and on a few other non-boat projects. It works great and has stuck to everything I have used it on, including a garden water feature. Just be sure to give it plenty of dry time.

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I'm gonna hit it with a coat of stain when I do the structure I think. It seems cheaply built and definitely needs another coat of stain!


I actually have a tube of this and it's what I planned to seal the drain to the pond liner with! The plastics purveyor guy said that it seals great, and an added bonus is that it's black so it won't be visible. I'm counting on it working. Otherwise, I'll just throw the whole thing out and get a rubber pond liner and go custom.

LaurelC said:

I'm gonna hit it with a coat of stain when I do the structure I think. It seems cheaply built and definitely needs another coat of stain!


I actually have a tube of this and it's what I planned to seal the drain to the pond liner with! The plastics purveyor guy said that it seals great, and an added bonus is that it's black so it won't be visible. I'm counting on it working. Otherwise, I'll just throw the whole thing out and get a rubber pond liner and go custom.

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It's good stuff. The areas that I have used it on my boat have been exposed to salt water and brutal sun for a few years. The 5200 is still holding up great with no shrinking or cracking. I didn't know that it came in black, I've only seen white. I will have to look for it.

jenniemig said:

It's good stuff. The areas that I have used it on my boat have been exposed to salt water and brutal sun for a few years. The 5200 is still holding up great with no shrinking or cracking. I didn't know that it came in black, I've only seen white. I will have to look for it.

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http://www.tapplastics.com/product/...lues_sealants/marine_adhesive_sealant_5200/55

Here's what I got, and the place I got it from. There are a lot of brick and mortar locations around here, so it was easy enough to swing by and talk to the guys.

I love the idea, we need more pics as work progresses,Please.

Trefoil said:

I love the idea, we need more pics as work progresses,Please.

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Thanks! Will do! I'm also keeping updates on my blog.

http://www.homeindisarray.com/