Our Maine Duck House

[Conan]

Thank you! We got the plastic up just in time ;-)
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I'll say! Definitely jealous of that snow.

 

[a.graham52]

nice looking coop! were from maine as well, up in bar harbor.

 

[3bird]

nice looking coop! were from maine as well, up in bar harbor.

Thanks, @a.graham52 ! We're a little ways down the coast in Rockland.

 

[happy duck]

Nice! Your flock is going to love it! I can't wait to see the finished product!

 

[3bird]

July 2019 Update: The one thing we wished someone had told us when designing and building our duckhouse & run is to make sure to include a way to separate birds. With Angus being particularly randy and rough with Martha and Goose, we resorted to creating his "special fort" (aka "The Hole" if we are mad at him) about six weeks ago. Basically, we just wired off the section of the run under the duckhouse, added a door and put his carrier in there with straw. That has worked fine for the nights, and during the day, we just split the flock between two fenced pastures into grouping that work for everyone. When we are away, however, we don't want our ducksitter to leave them out in the pastures all day because of hawks and eagles, so.....

We give you Angus' Annex (aka "The West Wing"):

We still need to shingle it and add the covering boards over the hardware cloth, but for the interim, Angus' Annex is a good daytime solution for our boy during this time of the year when we are away.

 

[Miss Lydia]

And what a beautiful drake jail as we call them!!

 

[3bird]

And what a beautiful drake jail as we call them!!

At night, we've been putting Mouse (our white silver Appleyard) in with him in his Special Fort, as they are good buddies, and that seems to settle everyone down. Once I fully predator proof the Annex, I'm going to add a door between the Special Fort and the Annex, which will make it a good space for both of them when they all need to be locked in during the day.

We still don't have a winter solution, but we're scheming what a winter "drake jail" may look like if needed. ;-)

 

[pamelajean]

July 2019 Update: The one thing we wished someone had told us when designing and building our duckhouse & run is to make sure to include a way to separate birds. With Angus being particularly randy and rough with Martha and Goose, we resorted to creating his "special fort" (aka "The Hole" if we are mad at him) about six weeks ago. Basically, we just wired off the section of the run under the duckhouse, added a door and put his carrier in there with straw. That has worked fine for the nights, and during the day, we just split the flock between two fenced pastures into grouping that work for everyone. When we are away, however, we don't want our ducksitter to leave them out in the pastures all day because of hawks and eagles, so.....

We give you Angus' Annex (aka "The West Wing"):

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We still need to shingle it and add the covering boards over the hardware cloth, but for the interim, Angus' Annex is a good daytime solution for our boy during this time of the year when we are away.

I have discovered the same issue this year with a very randy drake and some new young additions as well as a broody hen and some cute ducklings. I have not gone so far as to build a separate area, I just used a dog play pen to separate out an area, but I like what you did. I may build something like this for future years.

 

[DuckyDonna]

At night, we've been putting Mouse (our white silver Appleyard) in with him in his Special Fort, as they are good buddies, and that seems to settle everyone down. Once I fully predator proof the Annex, I'm going to add a door between the Special Fort and the Annex, which will make it a good space for both of them when they all need to be locked in during the day.

We still don't have a winter solution, but we're scheming what a winter "drake jail" may look like if needed. ;-)

I've got a rowdy boy too and when he has to be in "jail" I put in one of his girls that he suprisingly doesn't rape all that often and it makes everyone happy too. @onaharley is real good for information about drake jails and has shared lots of great Ideas with me like the "sliding" divider that fits right in my pen. Let me know if you want a picture.

 

[3bird]

I've got a rowdy boy too and when he has to be in "jail" I put in one of his girls that he suprisingly doesn't rape all that often and it makes everyone happy too. @onaharley is real good for information about drake jails and has shared lots of great Ideas with me like the "sliding" divider that fits right in my pen. Let me know if you want a picture.

I'd love to see your "sliding divider." Thanks!