Duck House

[JaT1311]

I have been looking all over the place for plans or cool looking houses for my ducks
they need a new pen that is bigger -- they are growing way to fast!

I would love some ideas on bigger houses --where to buy, order or something easy to build myself

 

[Amiga]

Have you looked at designs for dog houses? Ducks don't need nest boxes or perches, and they don't do well with ramps that are long or steep, from what I have read. I designed a basic big box using plywood and 2x4s. The roof was the most exotic part of it.

As it turned out, because the shelter is unheated, and some of my runners are not cold hardy, I ended up moving them into the walkout basement (big window, lots of space, very nice little area). So in addition to a nice looking, simple house, think about heating it when it's crazy cold, and how to keep it from getting dangerously hot when it's crazy hot.

My solution to avoiding watery mess in the house was to have a veranda - a porch - covered with half inch metal hardware cloth on top, bottom and sides. Water and food were kept out there, not in the house itself.

The house is tall enough for a foot and a half of deep litter, without the runners bumping their heads on the ceiling.

 

[eggsellentfarms]

Ducks don't need nest boxes or perches

Muscovy ducks like to roost, so I put perches in my duck coop and they use them.
Also, if you want clean eggs, eggs in the same place every day, or want a broody duck to hatch some eggs, you are definitely going to want nest boxes.

 

[eggsellentfarms]

I just built a 4 by 8 coop for my ducks. The floor is 1/2 inch hardware cloth over the floor joists, so all the poop drops down onto two pieces of plywood below the floor joists. When I need to clean it out I just pull each 4 foot section from either end and scrape off the poop to put in the compost pile. Works great so far. The coop is not completely finished, but if we ever get some sun around here I'll post a picture for you.

 

[TLWR]

I built some raised planters a couple years ago with fence boards and 2x4s. As the ducks ran by, I looked at DH and said, how about we build another one, a little taller and put on a roof.
So we did. We made it so one side of the roof opened for cleaning. I used some scrap trex we had laying around for the floor and then did a little cut out so I could hang their water there (I don't like cooping them up in the hot humid summer nights without water). It also helps for cleaning.
I open the roof after letting them out and hose it down daily.

here it is with one half of the roof on (the open side is the side we made so I could open the roof. Hinges went in the middle so I could get access to either side


Here is the inside

 

[Amiga]

Muscovy ducks like to roost, so I put perches in my duck coop and they use them.
Also, if you want clean eggs, eggs in the same place every day, or want a broody duck to hatch some eggs, you are definitely going to want nest boxes.

Oopise! My post, there was perhaps unclear.

Mallard-derived ducks, to my knowledge, don't roost.

And in my experience with my runner-buff flock, only once have they used nest boxes, then those were abandoned, and since then the layers and the broodies make their own nests.

I also assumed from the avatar we are talking about mallard-derived ducks.

 

[Amiga]

TLWR, brilliant!

 

[JaT1311]

TLWR:
I love this! it seems to be easy to manage as well (ducks being messy creatures, gotta love them.) thank you for the suggestion

 

[JaT1311]

Amiga:

I had not thought about dog houses- brilliant!
that would be super easy
i will have to look into a dog house if i get discouraged in trying to build something...

they are strictly outdoor (my husband would kill me if i brought them inside) so thinking about insulation/ heating is a huge thing i know they get cold, luckily
they did okay this winter but it didnt get insane cold--

and yes they are mallard drakes- so no roosting or eggs (sadly i really wanted females maybe in a few years)

thank you for the info and suggestions

 

[Loulla]

any ideas on nesting spots for cape shelducks? I hear they like to build there nests in old animal borrows. We dont have that here...