Duck Houses

[CrazyChookLady5]

Well, still a few bugs to work out.....not real happy with how the kiddie pool sits in its space, and will be adding some fall to the roof panels for drainage. But, here is our lil ducks in their new pen, first day and night on their own....I dont think I was this nervous with our children. The pen is expandable and we will be adding either one or two 3 foot tall, 4 foot wide, and 8 foot long sections that will be entirely poultry screened in and sitting on the ground. It will attach to the right end of what we have here. Thanks for looking in.....







We are thinking they are about 5-6 weeks old, weve had them for 1 month....lots of work, but incredibly adorable and so far very friendly and tame. Amazed how fast they grow.....

Here they are the day we brought them home....

WOW!! your coop is awesome! and your ducklings are so cute!

 

[cyndilynn]

[/IMG]
The first pic is the Quack Shack. Just put it in the run today so the ducks won't go near it. The second is the chicken coop my husband and I built. I got the quack shack because my ducks won't go up the ramp to the chicken house. They stand around under it crying because the chickens went in at night. Then I have to go out and put them in the coop. Silly ducks. I'm going to put them in the quack shack tonight and block the door so they will get used to it. I hope that works.

 

[cyndilynn]

[/IMG]

 

[cyndilynn]

Good grief. Here is the quack shack. If it doesn't upload I give up!!!

 

[ChickEeeDee]

Good grief. Here is the quack shack. If it doesn't upload I give up!!!

LOVE it!!! You and I have the exact same issue .... They won't even try to waddle their fuzzy butts into the chicken coop, so I have to go out there each night & lift them up into it. Congrats & good luck with the new Quack Shack. I've read that even if they can get in at night they are more likely to stay out all night ...fingers crossed for you & your ducks.

 

[rancher hicks]

I have two ducks (got them from TSC in early March) and I have them living with my 6 chicks (all purchased at the same time) .... they all have been moved into my "Motel-Chick...Duck-n-ham-Palace" and these two give me and my chicks quite the time! They have to be chased/caught and put into the house at night. After reading some comments it's nice to know it's not just my two (Qwakrs & Chz) that are giving me fits about going in at night.

. Not only are they sooooo stubborn but they are also so mean to my chicks - constantly pecking at them and chasing them around. I'm hoping it's more of a "playing' than "fighting". The house has a run attached to it and inside the run I gave the ducks a small tub that they can swim in/drink from since I have the chicks a poultry nipple watering system.
I am considering adding onto my newly built coop/run and giving the ducks their own "house" so the chicks will have a peaceful place to sleep/lay eggs w/o the ducks pecking at them.
At first I was considering just getting an igloo type dog house and calling it "done" but I'm thinking that with our last harsh winter (got below -10F in AR for about a week) ... that maybe I shall build them a little house and leave it up to them to go inside or not.
I want them to be happy and healthy ... and I don't want to be "mean mom" by making them go inside at night ... but I don't want them to get hurt/be killed. We live on 3 acres of woods and have seen it all: coons, foxes, hogs, and BEARS!!!!

So my plea for help ...... does anyone have experience with chickens and ducks living in "harmony" inside the same house or should I give them their own space? Should I keep "forcing" them into the safety of the house at night or leave them to their own and hope they know when to be cautious/take shelter?

(the run is predator proof but it's still a little too chilly at nights to leave them outside)

I got 5 Swedish this year and I'm not sure how it worked out but they go into the chicken coop each night on their own. I can lead them in and recall I had to do so the first few times, but they got the hang of it.

Now I'm not sure how they do in the coop, but I don't think the chickens like them very much. I think it's too crowded inside the coop.

Now in the run they seem okay and in the yard they don't pester each other.

Still I plan to either give them up or build a separate coop attached to the end of this chicken run, with a door into the run.

As you can see I cover it with plastic in the winter. The floor is wood chips, hay and or straw.



Inside the run.

 

[rancher hicks]

Well, still a few bugs to work out.....not real happy with how the kiddie pool sits in its space, and will be adding some fall to the roof panels for drainage. But, here is our lil ducks in their new pen, first day and night on their own....I dont think I was this nervous with our children. The pen is expandable and we will be adding either one or two 3 foot tall, 4 foot wide, and 8 foot long sections that will be entirely poultry screened in and sitting on the ground. It will attach to the right end of what we have here. Thanks for looking in.....







We are thinking they are about 5-6 weeks old, weve had them for 1 month....lots of work, but incredibly adorable and so far very friendly and tame. Amazed how fast they grow.....

Here they are the day we brought them home....

Where do you live?

 

[AppleNouns]

So, I've been through a few threads about duck housing and I'm seeing lots of variety. I'm just not finding what I need though.

Mom and I haven't really done lots of big(gish) woodwork stuff, but we have a good selection of tools and I don't know about her but I'm pretty decent with anything but power tools, except like a power drill or sander.

We've got two ducks, they're khaki Campbell's.

Right now they're in a sort of temporary pen, we want to build a better one.

I can't seem to find a post with coop/run plans and a list of supplies that looks doable.

For some reason my searches don't seem to be returning much other than this thread. I'm only ever on here on mobile though, so that might be why.

Any suggestions or links to threads? I'm about to check Google, but I trust this site most of any I've seen so I'm checking here first.

Thanks

 

[Amiga]

For what it's worth, I designed a simple plywood box - double walled as we are in the northeast, based on a nice doghouse video I found on Youtube.

Most ducks don't perch, so it's just a rectangular box with a few niceties, like a drop ceiling made with polycarbonate panels to let light in but increase insulation, and polycarbonate roofing panels to let light in.

Of course, there is half inch metal hardware cloth over the ventilation openings, lockable Dutch doors and a sliding door to a hardware-cloth-covered porch.



For their run/pen, I could not dig down very far due to roots and rocks. So, I made a frame of sorts on the ground with a 1"x6" board. That was the outline of the pen. I put coated chain link fence across the bottom of the pen, and fastened the edges of the chain link to the 1"x6" board - it lays flat. Then I put another board, same dimensions, squarely on top of that so the fence is sandwiched between them. Nothing larger than a small rodent can dig up through that chain link.

I sistered (screwed together like a sandwich) three 2"x4"s to make posts. I then screwed them into the 1"x6" board frame, and attached 2X4s across the tops of the posts. I ran a few 2x4s across the top of the pen as well, and covered sides and top with 2"x3" coated woven wire fencing. Around the bottom 2 feet on the sides, I attached a very small diameter coated chicken wire.


Looking into the porch toward the duck house







I used a circular saw, an electric drill, a carpenter's square (which is a triangle, would someone please explain that to me?), a pencil, and a tape measure. Oh, and a pencil and paper and some screws of different lengths. No bandaids were required during the building of this pen.

My neighbor got the main parts of the house built for me, I finished it with the h.w. cloth and vinyl flooring. I built the porch, roofed it, and built the pen. Neighbor did make a hatch door for me.

 

[AppleNouns]

...

I used a circular saw, an electric drill, a carpenter's square (which is a triangle, would someone please explain that to me?)

My best guess is that you use triangles to make perfect squares? Like right angles, maybe?

Thanks though, this is really helpful. I had wondered about the run and perch thing because the duck ones I've seen look so similar to the chicken ones except for the run.

Do ducks not like ramps? Ours seem to never want to use them and most duck houses didn't seem like they had them.

I really like the double door and roof, they look great. It looks really sturdy and nice. The flooring sounds interesting, but I'm not too worried about anything digging in... Should I be? I'm most worried about our neighbors really vicious dogs and the big birds of prey in the area. I haven't read up on threats/predators as much as I have other stuff, so I'm still not sure about what is most important to protect them. I read a bit every day and still have so much more to go.

Thanks again, I'm going to read this again a few times in the morning so I can brainstorm a bit!

Are those also KCs?

Edit: I can't figure out what I messed up with the quote tag so I guess I'll just quote myself pfft