Ducklings and building a duck house

[konazz]

Firstly, thankyou to all the advice that has been given to others on forums - my wife and I have found the information priceless (like feeding niacin and how to stop angel wing).

We have two Pekin duckings - "Apple" and "Mac" - hatched around 17/12/2011. We finally bought our first home 2 months ago, so we could finally get a pet (no way a land lord here in Canberra, Australia will allow a pet).

My wife has previously had Pekins, so we got two 10 day old ducklings (I was dubious - i wanted a dog). Now I too see how much personality they both have.

So firstly, I thought I'd share some pictures from the last 4 weeks:

First day we picked them up:




And a bit later on:




Outside time (currently inside at night until pen is finished)


and meeting Charlie (our cockatiel)



I'll post some pictures of the duck house

 

[konazz]

Some pics of my current duck pen.

These are only stage one pics - being the duck house (at 2.7m x .950m x .1.6 high). I've already built most of a wire cage attach to the duck house (being 2.7m x 3.0m x 1.8m) to give them a large enough area while we are away for work some nights. I wanted to give Apple and Mac enough space to swim in, but also a big enough pond that doesn't need cleaning everyday. I got a 200 litre on from bunnings

Most of the timber is from recycled hardwood fences. Our neighbour was getting rid of his fence (only 3 months old - given as part of his 'house and land package'), so I spent a few days stripping it of nails etc. and got some really good timber from it. Also, the new development I live in, there's heaps of lengths of timber after the construction from which I was able to salvage quite a few good pieces of timber. Although, I did have to get some treated pine timber for the more complicated stuff (hardwood was too laborious).

Credit to the original idea, of having a raised duck pond, from Scott of Ozbantams.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/324522/my-mandarin-duck-pen-during-construction-photo-intensive

My worklog:
The basic frame goes up (and the pond fits - woo too!):


Reinforcement under the pond


The floor goes in


Added main duck house (dog kennel) and latticing on the back


Time to prime (white) and paint (sky blue)


Plumbing installed and sealed (but not in that picture, that came later on)

Last picture before it got too dark:


To be completed:

finish chicken wiring and cover with shade cloth
Connect pen to the rest of the frame
finish plumbing: add extension and tap (waiting on drain fittings and silicon to dry - 48 hours)
cover ramp with astro turf (currently waiting on glue to dry on steps) and connect via hinges

get Apple and Mac settled

 

[Hunter0704]

Your duckies are sooooo cute! I'm sure you're going to enjoy them immensely! They are so much fun to watch and they love being talked to, as I think you already know. And, your duck living quarters and pool looks really nice! Enjoy!

 

[mrpekinduck]

I don't know what predators are in Australia but chicken wire does not deter most north American predators. Other than that it's fabulous!

 

[70%cocoa]

I don't know what predators are in Australia but chicken wire does not deter most north American predators. Other than that it's fabulous!

Hi - I'm in Canberra too! The pen looks brilliant. But I agree about the chicken wire. You should consider replacing it with welded mesh. The holes should be 25mm x 25mm and the wire no thinner than 1.25mm. That will keep foxes out. There are many foxes in Canberra and they love a duck dinner.

You have done a wonderful job otherwise though, and your new ducks are gorgeous.

 

[konazz]

Thanks for all your advice. Have been reading up on friendly foxes, and yes, it does seem they'll chew through chicken wire (**** - as we have HEAPS of it - free).

Will take a look at Welded Mesh tonight at Bunnings (anywhere else to look in CBR?) - from memory, it isn't cheap! Might just cover the bottom half, and double/triple cover the top half of the pen.

 

[70%cocoa]

Yes, check out MetalMart in Fyshwick: http://www.metalmart.com.au/ They are cheaper than Bunnings for metal stuff. There may be a similar place closer to you though.

 

[konazz]

Not sure if there's anything closer to us (Holt/Macgregor) - but they do certainly have rolls of mesh. Might go down this afternoon.

 

[70%cocoa]

Yeah, they've got big rolls of wide mesh. The 25mm x 25mm x 1.24 aviary mesh would do the trick. 30 metres of the 90cm wide stuff is $92.95. That is very good, seeing as how I just paid almost $40 for the 5 metres of exactly the same thing from Bunnings today. I only wanted a small amount so I went to Bunnings (Metal Mart doesn't have the small rolls). But now that I think about it it was kinda dumb of me to pay half the price for one-sixth the amount, LOL.

 

[konazz]

Yes I found that same roll (900mm x 30m) - Thanks for letting me know the cost at bunnings. Was going to see how much more it was at Belconnen Bunnings. 30 metres will hopefully do (the ground area is 11m2 so taking a 100mm overlap with twist ties, each linear metre will cover 0.8m2 - means 15 linear metres to cover the entire base of the pen). The dimensions are 4m x 2.7m x 1.8m/1.6m high. I could easily wrap the remaining 15m around the entire pen, so at least this will be to a height of 900mm.

Surely a fox wouldn't be able to gnaw through double layer chicken wire, 900mm above the ground?!