Infrastructure - how much time and effort have you spent?

[Amiga]

I realize this may border on the idle curiosity end of the spectrum, but just for some perspective, I have a question.

How much time (and if you feel like sharing, how much money - but that is not my main question) do you spend and have you spent on infrastructure for your ducks?

By infrastructure, I mean any changes you have made to accommodate eggs, incubators, ducklings, brooders, pens, pools, feed and bedding storage, new compost piles, and so forth.

Since I am asking, I will offer that I had to start from scratch (sorry

) with a night pen, fencing, bedding, water heater, space in the guest room for a brooder, space in the basement for what I anticipate will be a halfway house before the month-olds are ready to live out in their own house.

I am NOT the person who finds all the best deals. I have spent a few hundred dollars (please don't laugh - at least I am building my own pen and duck house, not buying the $2200 potting shed that would have been my dream duck house). That pointed out, I have been given a very nice fiberglass pond liner - free for picking up - and some plywood. I have repurposed a very large bin and my recently deceased reptile's ceramic heaters for a brooder.

I have rearranged the basement to make space for constructing Little Fort Knox and the Duck Inn this winter, and that space will be used for the ducks themselves if all goes according to plan, once the pen and house are set up outdoors and they are big enough for a somewhat cooler environment before moving into their adult digs. BTW, it is a pretty nice basement - Manning floors and 9 ft picture window included.

I have rearranged my front yard garden area to accommodate the night pen and house, moved a few piles of firewood out of the way, and have found places for more compost. I am getting to know people in the small livestock world in my town and nearby.

Some of you probably had most of the infrastructure in place before you got ducks. Perhaps you had other poultry or livestock, or bought a place with outbuildings (ours has none - not even a doghouse).

Anyone willing to share their story? Ideas for the transition from no ducks to several?

 

[Preservation Acres]

I'm going to be getting about six runner ducks this summer, so I'm also interested. If anyone can post pics of their "duck setups" I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[Goat_Walker]

When we moved in there was already the 20 x 36 pen ( two 20 x18 pens connected with a gate ) and the people left 1 rabbit hutch, and a chicken hutch as well as a some wood in the barn, and an old wooden jungle gym that we tore down and used the wood for platforms / ladders/ ramps.

So really I had all the supplies - except for tarps, dog houses, feed, and the birds themselves. My dad is a warehouse manager for copy machines and printers for big businessess and schools so I get free pallets ( wooden and metal ) and then once we hit the jackpot and some big company orded a 2 ton printer/copier - that came in a huge wooden box - SO i turned that into a duck house. Then they have wooden ramps there to help get the printers off the machines so I get all the ramps (

)

I started out with 1 and have had 52 individual ducks since I started in 2006.

As far as how much I have paid:

On ducks - $18. Most were resuces, adoptions, or were born here. I had to buy One Indian runner drake for the flock and then i bought one scovie duckling for $3 because i couldnt resist.

On Dog houses and tarps - roughly $130 for the houses and $58 on tarps.

I spent maybe $30 a month on feed.

Then there are the kiddie pools - $ 65

THen I paid $75 for an incubator.

Ive probably spent about $75 - $100 on shipped eggs.

Ive been really lucky with my ducks, I just realised lol.

BUT --- Ive done pretty good in getting some of that money back. So far, selling my ducks and ducklings ive made $110 that I can recal from the top of my head. SO i'm getting there.

As for time... Well on weekdays if I get home beofore dark I spend at least 2 hours outside doing chores or just watching / herding my ducks. On weekends I spend at least 3-5 hours outside taking pictures, doing chores, and just watching these silly feathered things!

I still Have alot to do though. Im going to have to buy more dog houses / a shed for my ducks as well as pea gravel for the muddy pen and more tarps and such.

I guess thats my story as far as thre setup and stuff goes

 

[Amiga]

Goat-Walker, that is amazing! thanks!

It really helps me get a feel for what is involved, and some of the possible sources for materials I may be able to tap into.

Something I already "had" is training in farm-level composting, so that has not been a worry, I have space for composting their bedding and waste, and I can set up a gravity feed system easily enough so that their used pool water can fertigate the garden beds. And I had already bought some temporary fencing materials for other projects that I can use for the duck-o's.

I hope more can offer their stories.

Thanks again!

 

[Goat_Walker]

No problem! I'm hoping that when i get my own place if the backyard is big enough i can set up an irrigation system so that the pools are easier to empty.