Revised indoor duck pen plans.... PICS

[nettie]

I had a problem similar when I lived in Alabama, it was $300 per pet per year, non refundable (I only had two ducks then). It also increased our rent $15 a month.

We technically "rent" where we live now, but it is owned by our family. They deal with us having pets. lol. They've put restrictions on how many birds we can own, but we keep breaking it and adding another. lol. We have six ducks, 4 budgies, and 3 cockatiels. We'll be living here until we have our own house built, since there is no way we'll be able to find a rental property who'll put up with us. lol.

They might have better luck looking into renting a house. The owners might be more considerate of pets.

 

[Bossroo]

Not even with a prayer... they found only 2 houses in a 30 square mile Metropolitan area that would even consider allowing a pet. The rent $$$$$ that were asked were way out of their price range. It seams that in the real world no landlord wants to deal with pets. Just too much damage and time lost fixing them and trying to eliminate the odors between tenants to risk additional financial loss not to even mention the headaches. You admit that you are already breaking the families' wishes of restrictions. That in itself may eventually cause frictions that may not be easily overcome. Please be considerate of your families' feelings if and when moving out.

 

[nettie]

luckily all of our family love the pets, ducks included... We brought the Victor, Ming mei to our family x-mas parties, along with moxy and norie in a brooder (before we got vinny and ollie). Joe's sister is allergic to birds, but wanted to play with Moxy, so she wore gloves, lol. We keep our house really clean, so they don't mind us having all the birds. We don't plan any attaining anymore until we move out, or unless we have deaths and a new partner/friend is required. We try to keep at least a trio of each animal type so that if one does die, we won't have a lonely birdie.

Still waiting to hear back from the contractor on material ideas...

We are thinking of just screwing the walls of the pen directly to the walls of the room, and creating a new floor with tile flooring to go over the existing floor. We are thinking of using a laminate (like the stuff they use on bathroom counters) for the walls, instead of painted/sealed plywood.... I was also thinking we should use a "Granite" or marble colored laminate so when they flick poop and food on the walls, it'll blend in until it can be wiped off (in case of pop in visitors... lol) The Laminate will be more expensive, but we'll be able to use a lower grade thinner plywood making up for the cost.

 

[Baybrio]

Nettie,

I have a few materials ideas for you.

An easier to install and very pet friendly/waterproof floor is a vinyl PLANK sold through home depot. I believe it is trafficmaster dimensions Allure. I installed the cherry color in my office which also serves as my chicken/duckling brooding area. I installed the cherry wood version, it looks nice, is super easy to install, floats above the existing floor so no damage to the existing floor and is WATERPROOF! I did a lot of research before I bought this and many pet owners love it.

Also, for the walls, you might try looking into the panels used in showers. My guess is that since they are made to go on walls they would work well and have components so that the seams could be sealed.

The other idea I had is for the ramp. Instead of painting the ramp or in addition to painting the ramp you might try the ultra cheapo carpet tiles sold at home improvement stores. They are not attractive but they have ridges that would give duck feet a good grip and they have adhesive on the back. You could cut them to fit between the quarter round and just remove and replace dirty sections.

Good luck, it looks like a duck palace!

 

[nettie]

Thanks for the ideas! I appreciate them! I didn't even think of shower paneling! Genius! I'll have to do more research on the floor and see what the final cost would be to do most of the room. I think I might use a scrap sheet of linoleum to cover the whole ramp, then nail down the half round.... The ramps have always been a pain in the butt to clean. Our new ramp will be removable so we can at least take it out and throw it outside to hose it off every once in a wait.

Unfortunately I have to wait for the holiday weekend to be over with before going any further on our duck pen building... everyone takes the weekend off. (I don't know what that's about, lol... Who takes holidays off? Not people who work from home like me .lol).

 

[PineappleMama]

Wow.

You are WAY better at this than me and my measly Paintbrush.

 

[tia]

Your pen looks fantastic. I have my pen in the garage and don't have any problem with odor. I have vinyl walls and flooring. I take all the pine shavings out once a week and mop the floor and walls. Yours is really fancy compared to mine - I only have one level and I built it myself, so it's functional but not too pretty. The ducks aren't complaining though.