Nice houses here! I am expecting 2 female Runner ducklings from Metzers in about a week, and while they will still be in the brooder for at least a month I need to start thinking about a small shelter for them. It would be located inside the run that they will share with my 5 hens (who already have their own little coop) and there is already a pool in there too because I had a Pekin drake for a while that I recently had to rehome. He would coop with my hens so I never built a seperate duck house before...does the house have to be tall enough for the Runners to stand in? Any special modifications for when they will lay? Or will a dog house with plenty of bedding and ventilation do? Here's a pic of the setup, I'd like to put it in the corner just opposite the hen house. Oh and the run is 10X20'
Just a random side note: I had 4 ducks in a dog yard like that and watched a racoon drag a Pekin by the neck through the top of the door and the top of the cage. It was about a 4 inch gap. Another time a fox forced his way in at the bottom gap and took another. I can't tell from the pics but you might want to find a way to add some hardware cloth to the inside edges. =( I would hate for what happened to me to happen to another. Jade
After watching a racoon attack I went all mother duck insane and built a house. It is made from t1-11 boards, hardware cloth on both the window and roof with white greenhouse plastic over it, cattle mats, flat bricks and a broken plastic fence. There is an open holed cattle mat cut to fit where the water sits to drain out of the house and keep it a little dryer inside. 3 foot high 150 foot long electric fence keeps out most other animals. Oh and the house has 6 locking points 2 inside the house, two at the top and 2 with keyed locks at the bottom. ....
I may have gone over board slightly but I'm pretty sure Fort Duck can withstand anything but a bear and even then it did take 4 people and a tractor to move the house... =)
I love these! We're putting together the pen for our runners this weekend (two weeks old, so they're still in a brood bin in the garage) and we're trying to make sure we plan accordingly for predators, weather, and the periodic floods we get in our area
