Duck Houses

[Ren2014]

I've come to the conclusion that all ducks are obsessive/compulsive, lol. They absolutely hate hate hate any changes. But by the same token, once they do finally get used to something, like a new house, you don't have to worry much anymore- they will troop in every night all on their own (except full moon nights- I notice they want to stay outside, probably because it doesn't seem dark enough to be bedtime yet). Right now, I'm trying to teach them that it's OK to leave the coop run during the daytime and free range. This morning, hubby opened the gate and told them "come on!" and started moving toward the gate. After he took a couple of steps, they were looking at him, and quacking to each other, and looking at the gate, and looking at him.... and then they all waddled out after him, as if he was the lead duck. They have been busy finding good things to eat all morning, and now are settled in the shade in a spot that is pretty secure from airborne attacks, with Lucky on guard (so called because he was the only drake able to evade us when we had the Great Drake Kill Off last month).

We made a couple of duck pergolas by attaching 4 2x4 legs to pallet, and have them scattered about to give the kids a shelter to run to if they hear an eagle.

Definitely creatures of habit,, lol. Changes scare them. In trying to transition our ducks from the back yard to our stock tank that is about 200 yds away, I had been herding them over to it for visits over several weeks but they would always turn right around and come back to the house. I gave up about a week ago and then just the other day I found them going back and forth to the tank on their own. I was thrilled but kinda sad cause they did it all with out me, lol

 

[csling]

Here's my duck house. I LOVE ducks, but they are the messiest creatures on earth. For their pool, I dug a large pit in the ground, and put several boards over the pit. The pool sits on the support boards. I drilled a hole in the bottom, and put a regular bathtub plug in the hole. Now, I just pull the plug, and all that dirty water drains into the pit below, then soaks into the ground. It is the easiest way to change water, and the ducks love it!

Here are a few views of the house. Some of these pics were taken last year, and I have since put tough livestock wire around the pen. Hope you like them

Wow! great idea for your pool!!! Sounds like a great solution to changing water without having to tip and dump the water weekly!

 

[Ren2014]

Beckybird, what a great idea!

 

[nayeli]

You can follow my sig to my blog... I have expanded the coop to add a window, added a tarp roof, made it larger and my ducks have a cement floor for added security.... but I haven't done the next blog post on that yet.

 

[Going Quackers]

I've come to the conclusion that all ducks are obsessive/compulsive, lol.

 

[tdd2]

We finished our 'Duckie Palace' this weekend. We've got 3 ducks, 2 Pekins (Chunk and Squirt) and a Khaki Campbell (Khaki) and these are the new digs...

It started with a 6'x5' chicken coop built by a local shed manufacturer (and built solid like a shed!). We modified it a bit inside for the ducks by removing the lower roost so they would have ample wing span stretching space, and made a shelf out of the upper roost for food/shaving/etc storage.

We then added a protected 6'x8' run to the side for when we aren't able to let them out in the yard....

The run framing is all 4x4 pressure treated lumber, and the floor is made up of 3" of washed 3/8" river stone, covered with a layer of 4" plastic pallets (for air space over the rocks), and a 1" rubber horse stall mat layer on the top. The 'indoor pool' is a 10 gallon low sided plastic wash tub, and there's also a 5 gallon waterer, and a PVC gravity feeder.

The mesh side panels are 1/2x1/2 welded, galvanized, vinyl coated wire - stainless stapled to the frame, and sandwiched between the framing and the trim. We put on a 1/2" plywood roof, covered with the steel wall panels of a pole building as the final roofing material.

Finished the wood up with a coat of grey paint to match the house and deck, added some black iron hardware and a vinyl rain gutter at the rear roof line for rain runoff, and vinyl gutter at the rear floor for washing the pen out (the rear bottom frame cross member is 1/2" off of the floor to allow the water to pass through the back when hosing the pen out).

First go at a duck pen (or anything like this actually), we are quite pleased, and wanted to share!

 

[ChickEeeDee]

We finished our 'Duckie Palace' this weekend. We've got 3 ducks, 2 Pekins (Chunk and Squirt) and a Khaki Campbell (Khaki) and these are the new digs... It started with a 6'x5' chicken coop built by a local shed manufacturer (and built solid like a shed!). We modified it a bit inside for the ducks by removing the lower roost so they would have ample wing span stretching space, and made a shelf out of the upper roost for food/shaving/etc storage. We then added a protected 6'x8' run to the side for when we aren't able to let them out in the yard.... The run framing is all 4x4 pressure treated lumber, and the floor is made up of 3" of washed 3/8" river stone, covered with a layer of 4" plastic pallets (for air space over the rocks), and a 1" rubber horse stall mat layer on the top. The 'indoor pool' is a 10 gallon low sided plastic wash tub, and there's also a 5 gallon waterer, and a PVC gravity feeder. The mesh side panels are 1/2x1/2 welded, galvanized, vinyl coated wire - stainless stapled to the frame, and sandwiched between the framing and the trim. We put on a 1/2" plywood roof, covered with the steel wall panels of a pole building as the final roofing material. Finished the wood up with a coat of grey paint to match the house and deck, added some black iron hardware and a vinyl rain gutter at the rear roof line for rain runoff, and vinyl gutter at the rear floor for washing the pen out (the rear bottom frame cross member is 1/2" off of the floor to allow the water to pass through the back when hosing the pen out). First go at a duck pen (or anything like this actually), we are quite pleased, and wanted to share!

Holly hello that's an AWESOME!!! You did a FAB job!!!! Love the ducks, love the names, love the colors you chose!!! Wow, wow, wow!!! I'm super jelly & so are my two pekins (Qwakrs & Chz)!! Ha ha ... Congrats on the awesome build!!!

 

[Amiga]

tdd2, beautiful!

 

[Ren2014]

We finished our 'Duckie Palace' this weekend. We've got 3 ducks, 2 Pekins (Chunk and Squirt) and a Khaki Campbell (Khaki) and these are the new digs...

It started with a 6'x5' chicken coop built by a local shed manufacturer (and built solid like a shed!). We modified it a bit inside for the ducks by removing the lower roost so they would have ample wing span stretching space, and made a shelf out of the upper roost for food/shaving/etc storage.

We then added a protected 6'x8' run to the side for when we aren't able to let them out in the yard....

The run framing is all 4x4 pressure treated lumber, and the floor is made up of 3" of washed 3/8" river stone, covered with a layer of 4" plastic pallets (for air space over the rocks), and a 1" rubber horse stall mat layer on the top. The 'indoor pool' is a 10 gallon low sided plastic wash tub, and there's also a 5 gallon waterer, and a PVC gravity feeder.

The mesh side panels are 1/2x1/2 welded, galvanized, vinyl coated wire - stainless stapled to the frame, and sandwiched between the framing and the trim. We put on a 1/2" plywood roof, covered with the steel wall panels of a pole building as the final roofing material.

Finished the wood up with a coat of grey paint to match the house and deck, added some black iron hardware and a vinyl rain gutter at the rear roof line for rain runoff, and vinyl gutter at the rear floor for washing the pen out (the rear bottom frame cross member is 1/2" off of the floor to allow the water to pass through the back when hosing the pen out).

First go at a duck pen (or anything like this actually), we are quite pleased, and wanted to share!

Welcome to BYC

Congrats on the fabulous job! I must say this is one of the nicest duck houses and runs I have seen. You have some very lucky ducks

 

[irocblu]

I have seen some awsome ideas in here. My biggest issue is space. I live in the city. I have the same problems predators, pond and runs but less space to do it in. I believe I have enough room, I must use it wisely. Again thank you all.