This is my new duck house

[chicken pickin]

I was lucky enough to have a friend that was downsizing his chickens and had a spare chicken coop that he was going demo and trash. I asked if I could have it to make something out of it. It was original going to be a bachelor pad for my spare roosters I hatched out. But then I got my first ducklings from TSC. Luckily for me it turned out to be a good ratio, I ended up with 1 Drake named Dark Wing and 3 ducks Ducky, Ninja, and Bluebelle. They now needed a home. My ducklings are now 4 months old and live completely free ranged and they sleep on the front deck of my house

. It is definitely time to give them a place of their own. My friends coop recently made its way over to my house along with a small pond he had in his basement from when he moved in to his house. I was very lucky to get these items for free. It was now time to work on this duck house. I worked on it all day yesterday and today and TADA the house is done minus a few small details.

Here is a pic of when it arrived to my house and I had taken the front and back walls off because they were no good. It was a chicken coop so it does have raised nest boxes I haven't made a plan yet for that renovation. I will also be lowering it so it is closer to the ground


And here is the coop today after all the work I did on it

Front view (top cut out is for ventilation and will be covered with hardware cloth as will the window)



Side view(this side lifts up to the nest boxes)


And back view ( has large clean out door and ventilation along the entire back roof line behind the trim)


This is the area that the house will be repositioned in with the little pond and be fully fenced in and enclosed(minus all the scrap wood)


I still need to do a few small things to the house but the main thing is moving it, and boy is it heavy. Next I plan to stain the wooden roof shingles, I was thinking a dark reddish brown stain. And then paint the coop, I was thinking yellow with white trim.

Oh and to make this house even better I didn't put a single penny into it. All the wood was free scraps that I collect and keep in my scrap wood for building things pile.

I will add more pics as I work on the house and duck yard

Any thoughts, advice or feedback would be great

 

[Miss Lydia]

I was lucky enough to have a friend that was downsizing his chickens and had a spare chicken coop that he was going demo and trash. I asked if I could have it to make something out of it. It was original going to be a bachelor pad for my spare roosters I hatched out. But then I got my first ducklings from TSC. Luckily for me it turned out to be a good ratio, I ended up with 1 Drake named Dark Wing and 3 ducks Ducky, Ninja, and Bluebelle. They now needed a home. My ducklings are now 4 months old and live completely free ranged and they sleep on the front deck of my house

. It is definitely time to give them a place of their own. My friends coop recently made its way over to my house along with a small pond he had in his basement from when he moved in to his house. I was very lucky to get these items for free. It was now time to work on this duck house. I worked on it all day yesterday and today and TADA the house is done minus a few small details.

Here is a pic of when it arrived to my house and I had taken the front and back walls off because they were no good. It was a chicken coop so it does have raised nest boxes I haven't made a plan yet for that renovation. I will also be lowering it so it is closer to the ground


And here is the coop today after all the work I did on it

Front view (top cut out is for ventilation and will be covered with hardware cloth as will the window)



Side view(this side lifts up to the nest boxes)


And back view ( has large clean out door and ventilation along the entire back roof line behind the trim)


This is the area that the house will be repositioned in with the little pond and be fully fenced in and enclosed(minus all the scrap wood)


I still need to do a few small things to the house but the main thing is moving it, and boy is it heavy. Next I plan to stain the wooden roof shingles, I was thinking a dark reddish brown stain. And then paint the coop, I was thinking yellow with white trim.

Oh and to make this house even better I didn't put a single penny into it. All the wood was free scraps that I collect and keep in my scrap wood for building things pile.

I will add more pics as I work on the house and duck yard

Any thoughts, advice or feedback would be great

Looking great!!!

 

[Carcajou]

X2

 

[lesander]

I was lucky enough to have a friend that was downsizing his chickens and had a spare chicken coop that he was going demo and trash. I asked if I could have it to make something out of it. It was original going to be a bachelor pad for my spare roosters I hatched out. But then I got my first ducklings from TSC. Luckily for me it turned out to be a good ratio, I ended up with 1 Drake named Dark Wing and 3 ducks Ducky, Ninja, and Bluebelle. They now needed a home. My ducklings are now 4 months old and live completely free ranged and they sleep on the front deck of my house

. It is definitely time to give them a place of their own. My friends coop recently made its way over to my house along with a small pond he had in his basement from when he moved in to his house. I was very lucky to get these items for free. It was now time to work on this duck house. I worked on it all day yesterday and today and TADA the house is done minus a few small details. Here is a pic of when it arrived to my house and I had taken the front and back walls off because they were no good. It was a chicken coop so it does have raised nest boxes I haven't made a plan yet for that renovation. I will also be lowering it so it is closer to the ground And here is the coop today after all the work I did on it Front view (top cut out is for ventilation and will be covered with hardware cloth as will the window) Side view(this side lifts up to the nest boxes) And back view ( has large clean out door and ventilation along the entire back roof line behind the trim) This is the area that the house will be repositioned in with the little pond and be fully fenced in and enclosed(minus all the scrap wood) I still need to do a few small things to the house but the main thing is moving it, and boy is it heavy. Next I plan to stain the wooden roof shingles, I was thinking a dark reddish brown stain. And then paint the coop, I was thinking yellow with white trim. Oh and to make this house even better I didn't put a single penny into it. All the wood was free scraps that I collect and keep in my scrap wood for building things pile. I will add more pics as I work on the house and duck yard Any thoughts, advice or feedback would be great

Hello and welcome to the world of ducks! Ducks were new to me until a few weeks ago, I have 3 Muscovies, and they are great! My advice would be make it as easy to get in there and clean their house, ducks are far more messy than I thought...even after all the reading. I used a very good outdoor paint and painted the entire thing, and had 1/4 mesh put on a small part of the floor for the water/poop to be washed down through there. so I am able to really scrub it clean and the wood doesn't rot. Mine are only in their house from 730pm til first thing in the morning, we only give them water in their house to minimize the mess to, and it gets pretty dirty with the 3 of them, they all sleep in the same nesting box for now so that helps. And the pond with get dirty fast, mine love to fill it ith dirt and silt, my hubby installed a drain at the bottom making it much easier! Also if you have any questions, their are a lot of great people on here to answer your questions, no matter how strange they are, miss Lydia has been a great help to me! Enjoy your new feathered friends, and man they grow fast!

 

[Miss Lydia]

What a sweet thing to say lesander..Thank you

 

[chicken pickin]

Thanks for the good feed back so far. I am enjoying having ducks. I actually have 9 but I am looking to rehome 5 of them and keep only my main 4. They are really fun though I have one duck who is VERY loud and she quacks like an alarm clock

I think she is trying to out crow the roosters and out gobble the Tom Turkeys lol.

I do not plan to keep food or water in their house but instread make a covered area right off of their house to keep those things. The floor of the coop has a black rubber type surface so there will be no problem with rot. I cant wait to paint the house and see the end result. This week I hope we can get started on the pen, I haven't quite decided how I want the pen to be designed yet.

Oh and 2 question

Once I get them into the house and pen if on occasion I want to free range them How do I get them back into the pen. They fly very very well and when I try to corral them they take off on me. Any tips?

And the Drake just recently started to mate the ducks should I start seeing eggs soon? Not like I will find them but I was curious.

 

[chicken pickin]

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are so pretty, if you can't herd them because of flying only thing I know to do would just keep feeding them in the area inside the pen and save the goodies like dried mealworms for bedtime, that way you have some leverage in getting them inside the pen in the evening. making it something to look forward to. Are you thinking of clipping a wing on them. Usually 2-3 weeks after mating begins you'll see your first egg.

 

[chicken pickin]

I finished painting my duck house today. I decided to do dark blue with light blue accents and white trim and then a solid brown stain for the roof shingles.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I finished painting my duck house today. I decided to do dark blue with light blue accents and white trim and then a solid brown stain for the roof shingles.

Very nice looking duck house love the colors.