DIY Thread - Let's see your "Inventions".

I started my chicken tunnel project, today. The gate (from coop/run to tunnel) the tunnel and a 6-ft portable fence post were just ideas in my head until I tried each one, today. They all worked!!
I'm using 2"x3" rough cut hemlock for everything. It weathers very well.
The new "portable paddock" will be 6 feet high--4 feet of 2"x4" welded wire fencing and another 2 feet of chicken wire--to keep them from flying out. I wasn't sure the 6 foot post would be as stable as the 4-ft ones, but with longer "feet" on them, they stand up really well.
The tunnels will be 8 or 10 feet long, with the welded wire fencing arched over the frame and latched together with "locking" hook & eye latches and twist ties.
The gates will be hinged to the coop and have a closeable "door" the same size as the tunnel. The tunnels will take them across the driveway to the front yard or back yard (each enclosed in a portable paddock.)
Town ordinance requires chickens be behind fencing all the time. I can't afford to fence my whole yard, but this is affordable and allows them access to greens & bugs, safely.






 
Well, made some progress in the pond. Got the plumbing to the drain glued on and the pond is halfway buried, plus the retaining wall and some of the rocks are in for the surround. All of the river rocks used came out of the sandy soil the pen is sitting in. I also got the duck house stained. Looks better than new, and the supports seem to be holding it much steadier.

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I started my chicken tunnel project, today. The gate (from coop/run to tunnel) the tunnel and a 6-ft portable fence post were just ideas in my head until I tried each one, today. They all worked!!
I'm using 2"x3" rough cut hemlock for everything. It weathers very well.
The new "portable paddock" will be 6 feet high--4 feet of 2"x4" welded wire fencing and another 2 feet of chicken wire--to keep them from flying out. I wasn't sure the 6 foot post would be as stable as the 4-ft ones, but with longer "feet" on them, they stand up really well.
The tunnels will be 8 or 10 feet long, with the welded wire fencing arched over the frame and latched together with "locking" hook & eye latches and twist ties.
The gates will be hinged to the coop and have a closeable "door" the same size as the tunnel. The tunnels will take them across the driveway to the front yard or back yard (each enclosed in a portable paddock.)
Town ordinance requires chickens be behind fencing all the time. I can't afford to fence my whole yard, but this is affordable and allows them access to greens & bugs, safely.






I cant wait to see the final project and how it works.... Eggcellent.

deb
 
Well, made some progress in the pond. Got the plumbing to the drain glued on and the pond is halfway buried, plus the retaining wall and some of the rocks are in for the surround. All of the river rocks used came out of the sandy soil the pen is sitting in. I also got the duck house stained. Looks better than new, and the supports seem to be holding it much steadier.





I love this.... are you going to elevate the duck house a little bit with a ramp... to keep the wood a little drier? the whole construction is going to be awesome... I cant wait to see the final project.

deb
 
Well, made some progress in the pond. Got the plumbing to the drain glued on and the pond is halfway buried, plus the retaining wall and some of the rocks are in for the surround. All of the river rocks used came out of the sandy soil the pen is sitting in. I also got the duck house stained. Looks better than new, and the supports seem to be holding it much steadier.





That's a nice duck house!

The rocks around the pond struck a deep cord in me from my koi ponding/water gardening days.
Much discussion about lots of small rock/gravel in the pond. Waste matter gets caught up between the small rocks and the filters are unable to sweep it up and out of water column creating a festering environment of anaerobic bacteria. Eventually the whole pond needed to be emptied all the gravel removed.
I see the same thing here in that the small rocks outside of pond may collect poop in between them and be impossible to clean.

Apologies if I am way off base here.... as I know nothing of ducks and your particular environment regarding drainage...but thought I'd mention it.
 
That's a nice duck house!

The rocks around the pond struck a deep cord in me from my koi ponding/water gardening days.
Much discussion about lots of small rock/gravel in the pond. Waste matter gets caught up between the small rocks and the filters are unable to sweep it up and out of water column creating a festering environment of anaerobic bacteria. Eventually the whole pond needed to be emptied all the gravel removed.
I see the same thing here in that the small rocks outside of pond may collect poop in between them and be impossible to clean.

Apologies if I am way off base here.... as I know nothing of ducks and your particular environment regarding drainage...but thought I'd mention it.

The issue inside a koi pond is that the bottom is solid, natural ponds with a clay or soil under them don't act the same. Similarly, if the stones around the pond are sitting on dirt, or the containment allows the debris to be wash to a dirt area, the fauna in the soil (worms, bacteria and such) will take care of it, or it can be shoveled out if it accumulates in an unsightly area.

If you took a basin and filled it with stones or gravel and sunk it down into the ground, you would end up with a huge duck poo mess. So don't do that, as long as the soil can absorb the water and nutrients, it will help a lot with the mess.
 
That's a nice duck house!

The rocks around the pond struck a deep cord in me from my koi ponding/water gardening days.
Much discussion about lots of small rock/gravel in the pond. Waste matter gets caught up between the small rocks and the filters are unable to sweep it up and out of water column creating a festering environment of anaerobic bacteria. Eventually the whole pond needed to be emptied all the gravel removed.
I see the same thing here in that the small rocks outside of pond may collect poop in between them and be impossible to clean.

Apologies if I am way off base here.... as I know nothing of ducks and your particular environment regarding drainage...but thought I'd mention it.
Oh, I totally agree. The inside of the pond will remain as is. That is, random sand, straw, shavings, etc that the ducks carry in will end up in there, but I won't be intentionally putting anything in besides water.

The outside of the pond will probably collect poop.... as will the remainder of the enclosure. There's not really much that can be done about that, short of not getting ducks. The "small" rocks referenced will actually be pillaged from my gravel "patio" area, which has rocks that are a size up from pea gravel, but still have many void spaces when "packed" down. You can see that gravel in the duck house photo. According to the people in the duck subforum, pea gravel is one of the easiest substrates for ducks (deep litter is less effective than with chickens, because ducks don't scratch, and instead just mat stuff down), because the poop can simply be rinsed down below the gravel and work it's way into the soil. Additionally, a note on my soil... it's not. As you may be able to see in the photos, my soil is entirely sand/glacial till. The area where the pen is going in had a 1-2" thick layer of decomposed bark mulch over it, and other than that, pure sand, so it should wash through fairly easily, and any additional organic matter will do nothing but help draw worms for the ducks to eat.
 
I love this.... are you going to elevate the duck house a little bit with a ramp... to keep the wood a little drier? the whole construction is going to be awesome... I cant wait to see the final project.

deb


That's the plan! It's going kitty corner from the pond in the enclosure, so hopefully that'll help keep it dryish, also, the half of the enclosure it's going in will be covered in corrugated plastic, so it won't get rained on at all (and that corner's protected by a tree, and is in the corner of the yard, next to the fence). Re: elevating it, I'm going to level an area, then stack 1-2 pavers under each of the legs and put on a wide ramp. Nothing too crazy, but it'll get me up and running. When I run out of other projects (as soon as the ducks are up and running, we are totally reshaping our gravel patio area, reshaping the back lawn, and building a retaining wall to level it, then putting in a mini-orchard and needing to haul in like 10-15 yards of mulch... ugh), I'm going to build the house a small platform that will essentially give them a "deck" to sit out on, and then enclose the area underneath it on 2 sides for additional shelter if/when we decide to raise some ducklings for dinner.
 
Quote: Very well thought out. and executed.

I am very interested in getting some runner ducks myself.... I had Moscovys by accident when I was a Tweenager... Someone gave me five ducklings brought them home and said Ma Look what I got.... That was 40ish years ago....
gig.gif
I remember having them grow up and my moms complaints about the POO. on the patio and water skiing in it.

Any hoo Have you seen Metzer farms duck pens? They have plastic grates that sits over water that is constantly flushed and filtered. Something like that could be covered with pea gravel for esthetics Or may be a little larger gravel if Pea clogs the grates. Then the water under the grates could be pumped to the orchards. They have video of their pens on their site.

I know Its probably something way too expensive and impractical for home keeping .
 

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