Blog BYC pages of duck run/pen construction

[WadeMD]

We have finally had good weather, the snow is going away and I have started work on the duck pen/run. I am documenting the progress on a blog page here on BYC. In two days, I've started the pond (hole in the ground), built most of the pen/shelter, and put in some fencing for the run. For lots more details and pictures:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=45801

Any comments, concerns, or creative ideas welcome!

I'll post updates when they occur. Ducklings are due from Metzer's on Wednesday of this week (Mar 10).

 

[WadeMD]

Oh, and how do you dig a pond through frozen surface in under a half hour??

Bribe the neighbor with beer...

 

[CT]

Just make sure he drinks the beer *after* he's done digging the hole. I'm thinking a drunk man could do serious damage with one of those puppies.

 

[WadeMD]

Day 2 (3?)

Finished the pond, getting closer on the coop.

 

[cristina33]

awesome very nice !

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Whoa!! All that would have taken me several months, not days!
Course my neighbors don't have that kind of equipment.
Nice set up too, you're gonna have some lucky ducks.

 

[WadeMD]

2 tons of sand, 1500lbs of rock, hundreds of pounds of dirt... and about 1400 gallons of water (the hose moved that one, thank goodness!) - took about 6 hours with a wheelbarrow.

Very pleased with the way it turned out.

 

[Hattiegun]

did u end up putting a drain in it??

 

[WadeMD]

I did not add a drain, the slope of my yard, once I really looked would have meant running the drain about 30 feet underground. I have an old aquarium pump (high volume) that I will use to do changes instead.

What I did to try to compensate for some of the mess is to create a pocket in the bottom about 6" deeper than the rest of the pond, so hopefully all the muck settles there. Then I can drop the pump in and pull out most of the muck. It still means getting messy, but I just couldn't do a trench over 2' deep at the start for 30 feet into the yard.