Building a LARGE AVIARY. Advice??

[MAXIMUS2004]

Hi all. I'm building an aviary that will be 140' x 45' roughly. I would like to section it into three large pens with multiple small ponds in
each. I'm planning having a submerged 4" well drilled to run water constantly. Does anyone have any suggestions as to the height I
should have the netting suspended? Or the depth of the ponds if I'll have running water? Or how many easy tempered exotic ducks
I could put in each section of the pen? Or the thickness of the concrete for the ponds? Do you coat the concrete with a roll on
waterproof chemical? I know I have a lot of questions I just want to do it right, the first time

, for the birds.

In the pens I plan on keeping greenwinged teal, ring teal, mandarins (reg&white), wood ducks, hottentot teal, falcated teal, northern shovelers, red breasted teal, chiloe wigeons, possibly egyptian geese, fulvous tree ducks, and possibly more easy tempered ducks
and geese. I just love waterfowl. I've been raising waterfowl for a few years but want to get more. It's like a buddy told me "they're like pokemon gotta catchem all."

Any helpful tips on what to or not to do would be GREATLY

appreciated.
Thanks, paul.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-avairy-construction
you may enjoy this

Also if you get any snow, think snow load. Even the 2 inch netting will collect snow (personal experience) so it has to be hung so that if it occurs it won't bring your fencing down etc.

I just hung some wonderful MyPetChicken heavy knotted netting 2"- and it is really nice stuff- made of some kind of plastic and is actually lightweight- keep in mind these nettings are kind of hard to hang square so you might get it first before putting up your fencing LOL. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do when snow hits though as I have it suspended kind of delicately.

 

[MAXIMUS2004]

No snow down here ChickensAreSweet, least none that sticks.

I've got to say that link to their aviary...WOW. Now that's an aviary. I don't have that size pond/pen in the budget though. I've heard
that multiple smaller ponds are better than one big one, maybe i'm wrong, though. Thanks again.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

No snow down here ChickensAreSweet, least none that sticks.

I've got to say that link to their aviary...WOW. Now that's an aviary. I don't have that size pond/pen in the budget though. I've heard
that multiple smaller ponds are better than one big one, maybe i'm wrong, though. Thanks again.

You are welcome and enjoy your birds!

 

[destinduck]

Hi Paul, Welcome to BYC! Hope you and your birds are doing well. If it helps we put down some chicken wire on the sides and 2x4 welded wire on the bottom)but you could use all welded wire, would be best for strength. Tell your concrete guy you want the best mix for a pond. I think mine had some fiberglass in the mix. I will ask Joey what it was exactly for you if you like. Mine was 3-4 in thick on the sides and probably five inches on the bottom. All you need is a foot deep pond on the one end that slants down to maybe two feet is plenty. Make sure you get the slope smooth and even the best you can so when its drained water isnt sitting in pockets.d I went with four inch pipe for the drain. Love it. just wish I would have included an overflow . So think about putting that in as well. Have the netting high enough where you aint hitting it with your head, Mines 4x4's are 6ft tall around the pen with 3 12ft center poles in the middlle.(2ft is buried in the ground here) I just made them T shaped with 4ft 2x2on top. But you can use cables too if you use just the poles.Hope this helps.I can take pics here of anything if you want as well Shawn

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I wouldn't use concrete for the ponds. Use 45 mil or 60 mil EPDM rubber with a heavy duty landscape fabric under it.
It goes down easy, lasts forever and you can get it custom made any dimension you want.
It's moveable and if you want you can pull it up to clean it.
Concrete doesn't have those qualities, is much more labor intensive and is guaranteed to crack.

I love the mix of birds. I'm jealous.

 

[JJRS]

Generally speaking, Egyptian Geese are foul tempered especially during breeding season.

 

[dylan duck man]

my egyption hen even attacks me nenes and canada are ure bet soft tempered geese

 

[MAXIMUS2004]

Shawn, I will definitely look into the fiberglass in the concrete. I was also thinking about the same as you on the height, maybe 6'6" on the long sides and 8' in the center. So 2' of water works good for all kinds of ducks, but do you still have to drain your pond from time to time to thoroughly clean it? Or does the running water keep it clean? I'm definitely going with 2 x 4 welded wire, and hex wire for 3' at the bottom. Thought about putting shade clothe up go give the ducks the illusion of cover and shade for the summer. I also thought about planting some small trees but really don't know what kind.

JJRS, I did some more research on Egyptian's and looks like they're going on open pond.

Thanks everyone for all the advice and feel free to keep it coming

 

[destinduck]

Get at least three buddies to help you.Work fast but make sure you get that sloped bottom flat cause when you drain it to clean you will find sloped level is happy! Also make your sides widely sloped so they can get out easy with any depth of water you fill the pond. Make sure you dont do a" bowl "design. What I mean is the whole bottom should be flat. Like if you had a sheet of ply wood and lifted up one end. This is the easiest design for cleaning. The cover over the pond will keep the algae down and shade is always good . I wish I did live near a stream or creek. I just have a well starite lawn pump though to fill it. I have to dump it once a week. I spray out all the sand leaves and what not when i dump it. I pressure wash it every other month although some of my buds just get a sprayer and bleach it when ya empty it. That works good too. Ive done both. If you go to keeping diver ducks you have to keep the water alot cleaner and would do a water change by every 4 days. Peach, plum, pomegranite,and loquat are good trees. Try and get all your plants well established befor adding your birds. they shouldnt mess with the fruit trees anyway.