In the process of designing this coop, I relied on Charlene in Oberlin, Ohio and her mandarin chicken coops and landscaping are gorgeous super clean and no trace of any small at all. I also did not put the bottom shelve since all ducks were hiding under it. I will put them up later.
Also, I need to have my spray gun working to spray paint these posts since I can't get through hardware cloth. This is why it has a unfinished look but every thing else is painted.
After viewing Charlene’s coop, I decided to use first the sand base and then pebble stones which will be easy to wash. With in couple of week, I will add a pond area by there and thanks to a member here that pointed out that I can bury a Rubber maid, 100 gallon tank and plum it such a way that I can just water my lawn with it and then just fill it back up. I guess I have to work with a plumber friend for that.
For the added touch, I added a bamboo, some water plants that is right in my pond and some perches which I found in the valley which this property drops down to. In the process, I lost one pin -tail duck that just flew away.
Process.
- Put 9, 2 X 4 X8 some 2 foot and some 36” deep.
- Lay down hardware netting in the floor and frame it in with 4” X 4”. Use 6” screw to faster it all.
- Frame the structure with matching tool shade plywood and net in the entire structure.
- Install roof turf paper and shingles.
- Paint.
- Put down sand and pea gravel and level it out.
- Put perches that are sturdy and looks good for the coop.
- Add water and floating plants since these ducks loves to pick on these plants.
- Install lock that can latch automatically and also to install screen door hardware kit.
- Future plan is to add a pond to the side which will be plumbed in a way that I can hook it up to a water hose and water my lawn with sprinklers since pen should be cleaned once a week. .
- I will do this in couple of weeks.