Inexpensive duck coop ideas?

I have 3 mallard ducks all females. One of them can fly now. What I did was put outside at about 3 weeks old and I made a pen for them with a house. Now the oldest duck that can fly returns ever night.
 
Hello! We just finished building this super easy arch chicken/duck tractor design. It was relatively inexpensive, and it is mobile, so it is easy to move around. It is a bit heavy, and requires two people to lift and move it, but we are going to add wheels and handles so it only requires one person. Our ducks are two weeks, our chicks are 3 weeks, and, yes, they do stink! So that is our plan too, to let them be in the tractor all day and just bring them in at night. We got the wood and pvc from Lowe's, and we got the chicken wire, screws, zip ties and wire cutters from Tractor Supply Co. Our finished tractor is 10' x 5'. Here are the materials we used-
1. 2 X 4's, 10' long, we used 2 of these.
2. 2 x 4's, 5' long, we used 2 of these, the employee can also cut a 10' long piece in half for you.
3. 100 pack of heavy duty zip ties, we had just enough, so you might want to get more if you want
4. Chicken wire- (small holes) 4' high x 50' long, we used about 40' of this roll
5. screws, we used 43 in all, but we didn't have a staple gun so we just secured the excess wire with screws
6. Pvc- 1/2", 10' long, we used 5, ( one at each end, 2 in the middle, one for the door)
20170820_180743.jpg
 
Hopefully you can kind of see what the frame looks like, you will need to attach the pieces of wood together with 2 screws on each end. ( we used a drill). Bend the pvc in the places you want to attach it, and mark it, drill the pilot holes in the pvc on those marks. Then you can attach the pvc to the wood with 2 screws for each piece of pvc. You can add more pvc if you like, but no less, because the wire will sag and it won't look nice.
Then unroll the wire, and using the wire cutters, cut it across at 9'9", more or less. It'd be best if you measure it yourself to see exactly how much you need.
Hopefully you can kind of see what the frame looks like, you will need to attach the pieces of wood together with 2 screws on each end. ( we used a drill). Bend the pvc in the places you want to attach it, and mark it, drill the pilot holes in the pvc on those marks. Then you can attach the pvc to the wood with 2 screws for each piece of pvc. You can add more pvc if you like, but no less, because the wire will sag and it won't look nice.
Then unroll the wire, and using the wire cutters, cut it across at 9'9", more or less. It'd be best if you measure it yourself to see exactly how much you need
20170820_183216.jpg
 
Place the wire over the pvc, pull it tight, and begin attaching it with the zip ties. Place one ziptie at the very base and pull it tight. Then go up and place another ziptie every few inches. Leave a little bit of overhang on the bottom, and the sides, this provides extra security. You can attach the wire at the bottom to the wood with either a staple gun or screws. The wire won't budge with the staples, but the advantage with the screws is that you can lift the wire up over the screws and you can get your hand in there if you want to put something inside instead of having to go through the door every time. But either method works fine.
20170820_190330.jpg
20170820_190338.jpg
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom