floating duck house

[teach992]

We are still rookies in the world of raising chickens and ducks. We got some chickens last spring. We ordered 10, got 11... 3 Easter eggers (one was a rooster), 3 golden lace wyandotte (one was a rooster), 3 barred rocks, 2 buff orpington. They live in a nice lodge and are quite happy, 9 layers and we are getting 7-8 eggs per day. This spring we got 5 Khaki ducks. We have a pond right next to our chicken coop and I WAS going to just build some duck boxes onto the outside of the coop and let the ducks waddle back and forth from the pond but I'm afraid of predators getting to them.

Now I'm thinking floating duck house... I would like to be able to harvest the eggs but I've got a few questions. Do they need nesting boxes like chickens? How big does the house need to be? Does anyone have any plans? I'm thinking about a octagonal house that is attached to a rope pulley system over the pond (kinda like the old fashion clothes lines) so I can pull the house over to get eggs then put it back in the middle for safety.

Any advice/tips would be awesome

 

[Vyctoria]

A very interesting idea! Hopefully someone with more design experience can chip in.

The only thing I can answer is about the nesting boxes. I have heard that some use them and others don't. I personally just straw off a section of their coop and the girls make their owns nests there. Typically they just like the drop the eggs where ever though. They're not picky.

 

[teach992]

Something like this???