Walker's Indian Runner Tribe

[QuackSpeak]

Hey everyone, my mind is racing with ideas and projects for the duck house/pen! I'm gonna list my ideas below and if you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to share them!

First off, I'd like to name my little duck house. I don't have many ideas though so this I'd really like suggestions for.
For The House:
1. Line the inside with plywood. Their house is warm but there are spaces between each board. It's pretty drafty.

2. Add a wire door. I think it would be nice to have the option to open the solid door and still have a "screen door" during the day to keep them inside the house and the cats/dogs out. Right now we are propping an old barn door up against it, which is a pain.

3. Paint it. This is of course for me but I think it would be lovely to paint the house a nice light blue color.

4. Make a sign, this would involve the name of the coop and probably everyone's name. Also I found out there is a horse buried under their pen so I'd like to have a nice memorial for her.

5. Hang a planter. I love flowers.

For The Pen:
1. Finish putting wire around the bottom where Awesome's pen meets theirs. That's really the only place I'd worry about them getting out.

2. There is a board blocking off the back of the house, I'd like to make that a door so I could get back there if I needed to.

3. Put some decor in there. It's pretty bare so maybe if there was a log or some grasses planted in there it wouldn't be so bad. Plus that would give some shade. I already bought some zebra grass.

4. Plant a tree. There is a triangle of space between Awesome's pen, their pen and another pasture that would be perfect for a small tree. Not only would it give them shade but it would shade those other pastures too.

Outside:
1. Do a little landscaping. I don't have a ton of space but the area could really benefit from some more plants. If the grasses don't work inside their pen I could always plant them outside.

Sorry I didn't respond sooner! I stopped getting notifications from this thread for a while. That said, So sorry you have to leave your duckies behind! Hope you get to visit often, or find a way to take them home

All of these ideas are really awesome!

Hmm, the duck house. Lol, I'm not so good at naming things.... Maybe The Duck House? Lol. Or Quacker Stadium? Cheese and Quackers Cafe?
You don't have to use any of those... I think they are all horrible except for maybe the last one. But that sounds like you might be eating the Quackers

 

[Miss Lydia]

If you use inexpensive sheet vinyl on the walls it will be easier to clean . My Runners like to back their lil butts right up against the walls and I put up vinyl and gosh it is easy to clean it's on the floor of all my houses too.

Paint yes will keep your wood lasting longer. Blue will be pretty.

My Dh made a screen door for my main house and we also cut panels in our big door going to the Runner/Buffs house and put up hardware wire on both. It is so nice in summer to be able to leave the screen doors there so they can have more ventilation.

My friend gave me a wood sign that say's "The Quack Shack" I think that is a cute name. Hanging some flowers would be nice just keep it out of reach of nommers.

As for grass etc. All you can do is try what ever you plant though will have to be tough because you have seen how they can work something over pretty good. But a tree would be real nice and maybe some bushes they can hang out under for safety and shade. Alot of my bushes and trees [fruit] have fencing around them to keep the geese from eating the bark and the chickens from scratching all the dirt out from around them. My ducks just like to go up to mature things and stick their heads down into it looking to stir up bugs.

 

[WalkerNom]

@QuackSpeak - I decided I will take them back home with me when I go. That way they will be more feathered and my grandparents won't have to worry about them as much as I do lol.

@Miss Lydia - Sheet vinyl is a good idea.

For paint I think I've decided on a light grey and white instead of light blue.

The tree would be in an area they can't get to anyway. I'm hoping they will leave the zebra grass alone I've got a cage to put around it though. I thought I'd add things to their pen slowly, that way if they destroy it I'm not wasting so much money.

Today I bought another type of grass, a euphorbia Bush (forget the name), and a blue phlox flower. But that's all for the little area outside the pen.

 

[QuackSpeak]

@QuackSpeak - I decided I will take them back home with me when I go. That way they will be more feathered and my grandparents won't have to worry about them as much as I do lol.

@Miss Lydia - Sheet vinyl is a good idea.

For paint I think I've decided on a light grey and white instead of light blue.

The tree would be in an area they can't get to anyway. I'm hoping they will leave the zebra grass alone I've got a cage to put around it though. I thought I'd add things to their pen slowly, that way if they destroy it I'm not wasting so much money.

Today I bought another type of grass, a euphorbia Bush (forget the name), and a blue phlox flower. But that's all for the little area outside the pen.

Yay that's good! You won't have to leave them!

Ps. I love all your ideas... Might steal some. I've been wanting to put grass in the pen for a while... Might try it

 

[WalkerNom]

@QuackSpeak - Go for it!

My grandma has some logs I may be able to use.

 

[WalkerNom]

Yesterday we did some work in the duck pen. These guys just watched lol.

We still haven't finished putting wire around the bottom of their pen but we let them run the whole thing yesterday. We got nervous about them being out while we weren't there to watch them so we got a net and covered their pen with it. Hopefully for now that will be good enough to deter raptors during the day. I tell ya, it's a huge relief! Every bird in the sky had me paranoid.

We hung a planter from their house with some red flowers in it, it was lovely but unfortunately we decapitated the main flower while putting up the net, haha! You can still see it in the pot though. These are annuals so next year we get to pick something different!

We also did some landscaping outside their pen. There's Little Bluestem grass, Ascot Rainbow Euphorbia, Blue Phlox, and the orange/yellow flower is some that my grandma already had so we put a piece out there. The rocks my grandma already had laying around from her old fish pond.

We still gotta mulch it (I was thinking red) and I think it needs another light. Also, that green grass in a pot is the zebra grass. It's hard to grow so I don't think I'll be planting it inside the pen. But rather behind the duck house where my grandma wants to plant more stuff.​

 

[QuackSpeak]

Love all the plants!! Especially the red flower

And your ducks are soo cute! Their webs look too big for the bodies right now, lol.

As for the mulch, it wasn't clear if you were going to put it inside the duck pen or not, but here's some advice anyways.

For our first two ducks, we had mulch inside the pen. We thought it would be a good substrate... Ha, no. I think it depends on how you manage it, but for us, it was a nightmare. The mulch would clump with the poop, water, and feed, creating a mucky mix that clotted up the duck pen when it dried. I tried raking and removing, and then adding more mulch. This worked for a while, and I suppose mulch is doable, but I don't think it's the best substrate to use.

P.S. If you weren't going to put the mulch in the duck pen, then sorry for the paragraph-lecture

 

[WalkerNom]

@QuackSpeak - Oh, my bad! The mulch is going by the plants haha! Besides, red mulch stains pretty bad...I don't want red ducks! :b

I doubt anything is going in the duck pen but a tree and maybe a bush. If I choose to put anything in there though I will need to be sure it's not poisonous.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@QuackSpeak - Oh, my bad! The mulch is going by the plants haha! Besides, red mulch stains pretty bad...I don't want red ducks! :b

I doubt anything is going in the duck pen but a tree and maybe a bush. If I choose to put anything in there though I will need to be sure it's not poisonous.

@WalkerNom It all looks great. You have done a nice job. Nosy lil characters aren't they? lol

 

[QuackSpeak]

@QuackSpeak - Oh, my bad! The mulch is going by the plants haha! Besides, red mulch stains pretty bad...I don't want red ducks! :b

I doubt anything is going in the duck pen but a tree and maybe a bush. If I choose to put anything in there though I will need to be sure it's not poisonous.

Haha

Yeah the mulch was a horrible idea
Now I can't stop picturing Ellie in red...

I want to plant a bush or something in the duck run. So they can forage a little and not be so bored. Plus, greenery looks nice

I have no tree/bush suggestion whatsoever, though. Yes, do make sure it's not poisonous...