Halizabeth
Chirping
- Apr 17, 2018
- 65
- 153
- 96
Just wanted to share our "mostly" finished duck pen pics..... and process. Thanks to many of you for sharing on these boards I tried to gather up information on what was best for our situation. We have a few predators that I am aware of, but pretty much prepared for all types.
We started with a steel dog pen, 2 of them that were 5'x5' each and combined them to make a large permanate pen to keep them with plenty of walking and flapping room through winter and other times when they can't be out in the yard. It is 14' x 4.5' and 5' high. We came up with the genius idea to take the back 6 panels off and replace them with fencing, using the steel panels as a day pen so they can enjoy grass and bugs while still safe when we are home.
SO we wanted the floor to slant for drainage purposes, we used pea gravel for easy rinsing, and additonally they can eat it to help with digestion of all the peas they enjoy!!
We used plywood on the bottom to prevent undergound entry from predators, we completely covered the plywood in thick plastic to keep it dry and easy to rinse clean. We covered the floor in an additonal double layer of plastic and carried that heavy black plastic up the fence along the back to keep projectile poops from sticking to the wood!!
The back fence is attached to the brick, the metal dog pen is attached to the fence and then wrapped in 1/2" hardware wire. The top is framed in wood and screwed down plywood with 2 large hinged doors so I can stand up inside if I need/want to..... but so far no need for that.
We have a large 40" dog crate inside for them to find shelter that has wood shavings for now and eventually straw will be added.
Around the outside we dug down 1/2 a foot and laid hardware and covered that with more pea gravel for drainage and prevent digging from predators.
Next I need to finish digging out for the remaining edge and then we are going to put fencing up on the far edge for privacy and along the front bottom with some type of items that can be open or closed depending on the weather and time of year. And the blue traps... which I hate.. will finally be gone!!!
I must mention my ducks were an impulse Easter purchase.......... on a "blow out" sale price of 40 cents each......... and to date it has cost us well into hundreds..... 600-700 most likely to take care of them over the past 2 months............ WOW!! Most of that is the pen. I hope they live long enough that we get to enjoy them for most of that money's worth lol
did I miss anything???
We started with a steel dog pen, 2 of them that were 5'x5' each and combined them to make a large permanate pen to keep them with plenty of walking and flapping room through winter and other times when they can't be out in the yard. It is 14' x 4.5' and 5' high. We came up with the genius idea to take the back 6 panels off and replace them with fencing, using the steel panels as a day pen so they can enjoy grass and bugs while still safe when we are home.
SO we wanted the floor to slant for drainage purposes, we used pea gravel for easy rinsing, and additonally they can eat it to help with digestion of all the peas they enjoy!!
We used plywood on the bottom to prevent undergound entry from predators, we completely covered the plywood in thick plastic to keep it dry and easy to rinse clean. We covered the floor in an additonal double layer of plastic and carried that heavy black plastic up the fence along the back to keep projectile poops from sticking to the wood!!
The back fence is attached to the brick, the metal dog pen is attached to the fence and then wrapped in 1/2" hardware wire. The top is framed in wood and screwed down plywood with 2 large hinged doors so I can stand up inside if I need/want to..... but so far no need for that.
We have a large 40" dog crate inside for them to find shelter that has wood shavings for now and eventually straw will be added.
Around the outside we dug down 1/2 a foot and laid hardware and covered that with more pea gravel for drainage and prevent digging from predators.
Next I need to finish digging out for the remaining edge and then we are going to put fencing up on the far edge for privacy and along the front bottom with some type of items that can be open or closed depending on the weather and time of year. And the blue traps... which I hate.. will finally be gone!!!
I must mention my ducks were an impulse Easter purchase.......... on a "blow out" sale price of 40 cents each......... and to date it has cost us well into hundreds..... 600-700 most likely to take care of them over the past 2 months............ WOW!! Most of that is the pen. I hope they live long enough that we get to enjoy them for most of that money's worth lol
did I miss anything???
Attachments
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duck pen sub floor.jpg -
duck pen wood floor.jpg -
duck pen wood roof.jpg -
duck pen plastic covered floor.jpg -
duck pen wire and rock edging.jpg -
duck pen pea gravel floor completed.jpg -
duck pen day pen.jpg -
duck pen dog house bed.jpg -
duck pen partial gravel edge close up.jpg -
34646783_10156407108204921_7874410344909635584_n.jpg -
34473096_10156407107719921_816826462425317376_n.jpg
great job!!
Looks great! And no - it never ends haha!
