duck house pic!? please

[annie3001]

hello. in march i have big plans at to get my first ducks ever.
owning chickens have been really rewarding! the next step for us is a couple of ducks.
my question is a building one, hopefully this is the right place to post the question:
any photos of ducks houses out there? please post them so i can get an idear.
also does a duck house have to be built just like a chicken coop?
the plan:
i have a baby pool for the ducks.
any feedback is much appriciated!

thank you thank you thank you

 

[fogbubble]

I based my duck house on a drawing in Dave Holderread's how-to book. It works great, but it's hard to catch ducks out of it because the ceiling is low and the angle is difficult. I guess I can use a net. The height ranges from about 3 feet in front to 2 feet in back. It's 4 feet deep X 8 feet long with a wire bottom that I pad with straw on one end. It's secure and I don't think anything bigger than a bee could get in. I've kept the ducks in it for 4-5 days at a stretch when we're on vacation, but really it's only meant for overnight predator protection. The main door is in the middle, with a ramp, and there's a small door on each end for cleaning and watering. I attached 2 nesting boxes with hinged roofs on each side of the main door. I'd say there's about $220 dollars in it.
Here's one thing I'd change: Since ducks like to jam themselves into corners, make sure that if you use a wire bottom so there's no way that their poop can accumulate on top of the wood frame.

These are painted white rocks, not eggs:

Shannon

 

[kingpincray]

very nice...thanks for sharing. I started building one but not completed yet. This will motivate me to complete it, just a simple one though.

 

[annie3001]

okay! thanks for posting a photo! although i would have to make it a little bit bigger, i live in ct. and it gets real cold, so i would need it a bit bigger and perhaps only a few windows. I want it long, that way i can put in some sort of tub, so they can have that while locked up.
Their run,, i plan to enclose and have a kid pool installed for them. i dug dirt out last summer and fit the pool snug inside. I am not going to secure it inside,, just enough i can take it out and clean it etc.
would i need to have a nesting box for them?

 

[froggie71]

Hi. We live in NJ and have had most of our ducks for over a year. Now we have 17!. This is their house and run. dirt floor. house is open to run 24/7. We keep food and water in the run. We add straw in the house. We do not have any nesting boxes as they don't use them and prefer to dig their own nest. We had 1 incident when we used a rubbermaid tote as a nesting box and 1 duck got stuck between it and a wall and she scared herself to death literally. Will never do that again. We keep their baby pools outside. They make enough mess with their water that it is necessary to keep it out of the run/housing area. A few aren't too bad, but 17 is crazy! These pics were taken when we housed the guineas with the ducks, but we've since had to make the guineas their own housing.

 

[annie3001]

nice picture!! thanks for sharing

 

[SportTees]

If you have the room and choose non flying ducks just let them have run of the yard! I have never had a predator problem with the ducks only the chickens

 

[mberry222]

Quote:
I guess it would depend on where you live. In the country they have to be in a predator safe enclosure at night. The raccoons, coyotes, stray dogs, opossums, or whatever else might be around will find them eventually.