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1.) I also forgot to mention it's a good space for their humidifier too... It's gets really dry around here in the winter time and their feet/bills get cracked if they don't have one. I worried with the pen being so big and tall, heat and humidified air wouldn't be able to get through. The screen will also be removable to aid with cleaning too. I also want to be able to open it if it gets chilly in there in summer. When the AC's on, I don't want the bottom floor super cold, so opening the door will let the sir flow better.
2.) Usually we use stick on vinyl tiles. Wherever we can get them cheap. The tiles can just be mopped up when they get messy under the bedding. We're also using good quality lumber, like A side C side plywood... the A side is super smooth and sanded down... So when it gets painted and sealed, it'll be smooth enough to just wipe down. Right now our current pen had like C/D side plywoode and it's really textured and the gunk sticks in every cranny... ugh... This time we're putting out the extra money to make it easier to clean.
3.) As joe said, they are free to poop at will in the pen. It's like a normal duck pen with bedding that needs to be mucked out... they haven't been wearing harnesses lately, but once the new pen is built and the temporary pen is out of my front room, there will be room again for them to play outside of their pen.
4.) It used to be really bad when i first started my adventures with indoor ducks... over time you pick up tricks... I used to use shavings until someone on BYC mentioned pellets... I love the pellets. If you expend them a bit with water before putting them down, it makes it easier to mix with Sweet PDZ (similar to Stall Dry used for horses). That really cuts down on smell. We use the air cleaner too. I have nearly no sense of smell anymore (all thanks to that darn zicam, lol) so it doesn't bother me at all except for when they are really stinky. I've asked people who come over and they say the room just smells like pine. lol
5.) There are a whole bunch of neat textures in the colors menu that pops up when you hit to paint bucket icon... There are a few tabs across the top, (one with the crayons, the circle with the color spectrum, etc). There is a button that looks like a brick. That one give you a ton of menus for brick, shingles, siding, glass, fencing, etc... There is a chicken wire one too. It's so neat! Thanks so much for telling me about it! It has helped greatly!
To be fair, I took 3d rendering classes in college. I was never as good at it as other people so i stuck to fine art. I could never animate things properly. But this program is a lot easier and cheaper (free is good, lol) than autocad.... I picked it up right away. It took forever though, probably at least 18 hours of work.... I kept running into trouble with the darn push/pull tool... it seemed whenever I pushed a shape, the opposite side would disappear giving me a 5 sided shape open on one face... ugh... at least i could figure out how to fix it. I had to make screen shot version with all the measurements as well, and the text tool is a pain in the behind... I'm glad it's done and I can email it to me cousin and call it done now...