Eglu for ducks?

[priss]

Does anyone have any experience of eglus for ducks? I have read a few threads here for chickens. I have a nice wood hut at the moment and an electric fence but I am looking for something I can sleep right through the night and know there is no way in heck a fox or badger is going to get through. So far the fence has kept everything at bay and the hut would offer a fair old amount of resisitance but, the nice man down the road has lost his birds to like the third fox/badger attack in like the last three four months. He had a proper shed for his birds and the badger literally just pulled the planks of the shed off. Sooo although nothing has got into our ducks over the last year and a half I still wake up at every sound just in case!
I am pondering between two things. We have some builders coming in a few months to do some work on the house. I was thinking of asking the brickie, to make a brick hut. Any ideas or experience anyone can offer to a brick duck hut?
Orrrr the easier option, of an eglu. Not sure if they are any good for ducks though and am a bit concerned about people saying how hot they get inside in the summer.
Any tips or words of wisdom would be great!
I have four call mutt ducks. Not quite as small as calls, but a lot littler than mallards!
Thanks for any advice guys.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ohh and Doog would like to say thanks too!

 

[gofasterstripe]

I love Dooog...hes/shes just the cutest

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Even though I saw a picture of a eglu on Wikipedia I have no ideal of how they are constructed. Nor Have I ever seen a brick duck hut but I have seen a brick dog house and they can be made not to be hot. I live in the South of the USA where daytime temperatures get up to 40 C 100+ F. We have three huge plants that produce bricks so they are cheap here and broken bricks can be got for free. People use them for everything! The trick to a reasonablely cool brick dog house is leave lots of holes in the walls so air can get in. Make it about twice as tall as needed (hot air rises) and a lot of holes around the top to let the hot air out. I don't know if you have any little pests that could get in through the holes but a fox or badger would be too big. Could a badger tear down a brick wall? You would have to have a solid floor both badgers and fox ar great diggers. The other problem is the door (dog houses usually have open doors) You would have to find some type of badger proof door if you want to be able to sleep nights. I would think you would want to have some sort of removable roof so you can get in there to clean out the duck poop. Maybe the door and roof can be of fairely heavy wood or metal construction attached to the bricks by bolts sunk into cement. It can be done but I never said it would be cheap. If it proves to be hot you could fix shade on the outside to help it stay cooler. Good Luck!

 

[jack & mommy's duckies]

What about building a wooden house for them.....but covering the outside with wire or welded iron rod so they can't pull it apart??? Not sure. I don't have much predator problems. My own dogs, racoon and hawks and that is about it. I live really close to a zoo and the smell and noise of the wild cats keeps most things abay.
I don't know...just a thought

 

[gryeyes]

Eglus HAVE made it across the pond, trust me. There are a few amurrican BYC members who have them. I was at the home of a BYC member and saw it in her back yard. It was being used as a grow out coop, not as permanent housing, though.

 

[ourlittleflock]

don't want to steal this thread - but how is Rory doing?

 

[Hattiegun]

Quote:
ya, and the new boy u have .. havent heard anything for awhile ???

 

[priss]

Well, the new boy Larry still hates Doog and chases her, but not constantly and he doesn't really bite her anymore either yaay. On the otherhand he loves Rory with all of his little heart. He won't let anyone go near Rory, including Mr Snoogles and Doog. Which is ticking Rory off a little cos she is a really friendly snuggly little thing who is missing out a bit. Not that Larry would ever bite us but I like to sit out with them and let them climb up onto my lap for snuggles and Larry flat out refuses to let her do it. You should hear her cussing when he's pushing her away from eating peas out of my hand lol!
The only problem part is, Doog has started laying and I'm worried Larry isn't giving her a break to lay her eggs. We'll see! She has managed to lay three so far and has a really well hidden nest in the hedge, she just has a really short attention span and keeps forgetting what she's in there for and climbing out to play.
Mr Snoogles is exactly the same, that little duck is a rock. She's even managed to keep her alpha duck status and when she wants, can kick Larry's BUTT!!

 

[feather2]

I have an egloo cube and an egloo. The site says ducks are good for it and I like the way you can move it around the lawn (they are messy little things- I have them inside right now). I got both because I read that ducks do not like ramps and the cube has one. Haven't been able to dig out of the snow here, so it will be in the spring that I try them. They do need to be reinforced with hardware cloth. Haven't decided on a bottom yet. Don't know if I should trust their "fox proof" claim. Anyone else have any input??