Floating Duck House

[slim2000]

I've been itching to build a floating duck house for a long time. There is one online for $999 which is a bit out of my league. Check out what I build with a small dog house and a floating dock made from closed foam insulation and cedar. Thanks to all people who have posted ideas... I borrowed from many.

http://mcelfreshgardens.com/2010/10/10/floating-duck-house/

-Travis

 

[kingpincray]

hey trav...so where are the ducks? are you going to get any?

 

[slim2000]

Quote:
Nice looking ducks! Mine are all wild so I don't 'have' any ducks technically. Though I always have a wild family of mallards, wood ducks, gadwalls and a few other species.

-T

 

[gryeyes]

Oh, I think yours is SO much nicer than the instructions I found online:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4451013_build-wooden-duck-houses.html

I did use the plans to build my duck house although I did not build it for water placement, so I didn't need the composite boards for the floor.

And then, the darned ducks don't like it! (It's now a small coop for four bantam chickens.)

 

[kingpincray]

Quote:
Nice looking ducks! Mine are all wild so I don't 'have' any ducks technically. Though I always have a wild family of mallards, wood ducks, gadwalls and a few other species.

-T

Thanks.

Did the wild ducks take a liking to the floating duck house?

 

[annie3001]

thats awesome!

 

[slim2000]

Quote:
Ok... so the new duck house scared off the wild ducks. My wife told me to remove the floating duck house so the ducks would come back. I held my ground... convinced that they'd come back... and they did. It took about 4 weeks. I now have Gadwalls and Mallards swimming near the house.... they have yet to enter.

 

[desertdarlene]

That's a cute duck house, keep us updated if the ducks decide to use it. I don't know if a wild duck would use it or not because a lot of them don't like enclosed places, but maybe things are different where you live.

I know what you mean about the baby ducks getting picked off one by one by predators. Fortunately for me, there were few losses in my area this year. Most of the losses happened before the third or fourth day and most of those early losses were due to bad parenting and not keeping their babies warm enough (some probably were eaten by the bass in the lake). So, I got to see a lot of ducklings grow up and fly off--or stay. I also follow and get close to the killdeer there and know almost all of them personally. I fear for them when the hawks, herons and falcons swipe at them, too.

 

[slim2000]

Quote:
Thanks! And nice blog you have there... what's the best time of year in San Diego for bird watching?

-Slim

 

[desertdarlene]

Quote:
Thanks! The best time to birdwatch here in San Diego is now until about May. We're getting a lot of migrants and visitors passing through right now.