Duck House Help Pretty Please

[Cheers2Ya]

Hi all, I'm new to BYC and I need some insight from you guys!

I've had Pekin ducks in the past. Loved having them! I have a natural pond in my acreage, although it's not huge. I stock it with minnows that winter just fine as it doesn't freeze solid (I'm from North Dakota). My Pekin family has been wiped out, completely, twice. We have bald eagles, hawks, and humongous owls, in addition to the regular four footed predators.

My question: I want to turn a large wooden wire/cable spool into a floating duck house. I have looked everywhere, figuring somebody had to have posted about this very thing somewhere - no luck! Am I delusional in thinking this would work? It the center of the spool is a hole, which I plan to run a pole through so it will stay located far off shore and rise and fall well with the water level. I am enclosing it with wood all around, adding an entrance.

Can I get some feedback/ideas/suggestions? In my vision, the spools will float because they are wooden. With the pipe in the middle driven into the bottom of the pond, the spool will always remain upright. Do you think I need to silicon the joints between the boards, or would that cause a problem with water retention. If I don't add any water blocking substance to the bottom riding on the pond, would the ducks use it if it is damp in there always? I'm sure there are things I am not thinking of....

Thanks!

 

[Amiga]

Well,

the kinds of predators you list won't be deterred by the spool house. For me, I would not be comfortable letting domestic ducks out on a pond with so many known predators.

I am not sure the spool would float - have you had it floating on the water yet? For the sake of argument, you might rig the underside with those huge styrofoam blocks people use for floating piers.

Back to domestic ducks - a damp environment gets moldy and they can get respiratory illnesses from certain molds. And then there is the question - that is entirely up to them - as to whether they will spend any time in the floating house....

 

[Cheers2Ya]

Thank you for the response! So, it sounds like if I want to get more ducks, I should keep them at the house and not let them live at the water? The previous ones were so happy at the pond, swimming and eating fish (and whatever else I bought them!), until they began disappearing one by one. They were sleeping in a more natural habitat then, in cattails and such, so no protection from night time predators. I am more concerned about the flying predators than the four legged ones, I've never found any feathers so I don't think they were killed there and drug away. My dogs keeps coyotes and such at bay, at least during the day. The pond is in the pasture with my horses.

I LOVED having my Pekins, and was so sad when they disappeared. But I don't want to take away their love of swimming and diving and catching fish when I have the ability to give it to them! But I also DO NOT want to get more just to feed the wildlife. Would they go into a house at night if I built them a duck coop, like chickens do?

I got ducks while still quite ignorant to their needs, but I want to do it correctly if I get to do it again.

 

[dotknott]

You can let them live by the water, but you should probably build a secure nighttime housing for them. Letting them just nest wherever they can is opening them up to predation from not coyotes but smaller critters like possums or raccoons. They generally do come back to home every night once they learn what home is.