Floating duck house

czechsonofagun · Jan 28, 2014

Anybody build one here? I am looking into it for my oldest daughter. Not to live in one

but she likes ducks.

I was thinking 4" water pipes for floating grid and build on top of it, anybody has a better idea for a pontoon?

Stick895 · Jan 28, 2014

Google's your friend here.

Gunny · Jan 28, 2014

Get one or two of those Styrofoam blocks they sell for boat docks.

czechsonofagun · Jan 28, 2014

Last time I checked, TBN was better than google, but maybe things changed while I was gone.

EddieWalker · Jan 28, 2014

I like the idea of PVC pipe for the floats. Then you can use some brackets to attach the wood to them easily. Sounds like a simple and affordable project. I'm curious how high the boards should be above the water line. I'm thinking you want to keep it as dry as possible for nesting, but close enough to the water for the ducks to get onto it.

Post pics if you do it, I'm curious how it works out.

There where some threads on this over at Pond Boss Magazine: Welcome, but I'm not sure how they turned out or if they where even used. I'd search there for floating islands.

Eddie

czechsonofagun · Jan 28, 2014

The 4" pipes I seen here:

Timber Butte Homestead ｻ Blog Archive ｻ Nancy

I could even use T pieces and elbows and make it a grid, problem with styrofoam is that it eventually soak and sink and commercial floaters are out of the budget.

/pine · Jan 28, 2014

https://www.google.com/search?q=Flo...74DoDg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1016&bih=606&dpr=1

Lloyd_E · Jan 28, 2014

Fill the pipes with spray foam insulation. It will maintain floating objective if a leak should appear in the pipe. There are a number of small house boats - really small 10'x10' cabins - being built up here. They use either plastic 45 gallon drums or plastic culverts filled with spray foam insulation. The drums do not contain the foam but the bungs are oriented towards the top of the floating deck. What kind of ducks do you have?

czechsonofagun · Jan 29, 2014

Thanks for the contribution, /pine, so that's the google everybody is talking about? Amazing!

Lloyd, I have access to plastic barrels, but they are too big and - IMO - would float too high.

Ducks - we have neighbor's ducks, this little family of 5 left his pond for our pond. He does not really care, he is a tenant on a land listed for sale, and we just feed his ducks basically

But my oldest wanted ducks for a while - so we may get our own eventually.

Of course, the lady of my house already requested pair of swans

- did you ever check into those:

Swans for sale

Gunny · Jan 29, 2014

I like your idea of using ells and tees to make a grid. If they were filled with foam, I think you would have the perfect solution.

tow653 · Jan 29, 2014

Never new that one could spoil a goose,but low and behold,my wife did,unfortunately a fox got it about a month ago when lake froze.

czechsonofagun · Jan 30, 2014

If I make the 4" pipe grid and it leaks, it will sink without warning, separate pipes will make it unsinkable - just like Titanic

I will start when it stops freezing.

tow653: my wife had a pet goose when she was a kid, the goose would wait for her to get off the school bus. I guess you can tame anything.

CurlyDave · Jan 30, 2014

If I make the 4" pipe grid and it leaks, it will sink without warning, separate pipes will make it unsinkable - just like Titanic

It will at least give you warning by listing before sinking. Independent chambers is clearly the way to go.

When I was a kid, my grandfather owned a cabin on a lake in PA. A lot of people had "rafts", permanently anchored swimming platforms, made like a wooden deck supported by empty 55 gallon drums at each corner for flotation.

In Oregon, a 55 gallon drum with one head cut out sells for $15. The way the head is cut out does not interfere with the ability to buy another drum head and make an air and water tight barrel. Each drum provides about 400 lbs of flotation, which is about the best bang for the buck I can think of in that department.

The drums were not really attached to the barrels, the wooden structure had spaces to fit the drums in the substructure of the deck. We always pulled them out of the water before the lake froze over for the winter and re-launched in spring. They floated about 12" above the water as I remember, maybe a little more.

* * * * *

Be careful here. A duck is the only creature on earth that can turn a pint of food into a quart of poop, or so it seems. Five ducks on a small pond is OK, but ducks show up from everywhere when the environment is good, and can turn a small pond into a manure pit in very little time.

This may lead to teaching your daughter the cycle of life, with you operating the shotgun...

EddieWalker · Jan 30, 2014

If you are going to use schedule 40 pvc and end caps, with purple primer and clear cement, I wouldn't worry about adding foam to the pipes. I also don't think I would go to the hassle of separate chambers. Just create a square out of four 90's and put some treated wood on top of it. Keep it Simple!!!

How often does schedule 40 fail when glued together properly under pressure? Rarely to never.

I've been thinking of the pros and cons of treated boards, like 5/4 decking with good sized spacing between them compared to a piece of treated plywood for the platform? If you have gaps, will that result in less debris on the platform?

Are you going to build a ramp that goes into the water so they can climb onto the platform?

Will you put nesting material on the platform or rely on them to bring it? Do ducks make nests or do they just flatten an area and use what's there?

Eddie

/pine · Jan 30, 2014

If you want to be more environmental friendly...you can use cypress rather than treated wood...FWIW

charlz · Jan 30, 2014

Ducks are not like chickens.... if you build them a duck house they may or may not use it. They may or may not nest on/in it. My ducks just sleep where ever on the pond shore. If something comes around that they don't like (e.g. dog) day or night they all swim to the center of the pond and quack like crazy.

My ducks prefer to nest in tall grass. They pull in dead grass from immediately around the nest and then line it with feathers/down they pull from themselves. We usually have some growing at different spots around the pond. Sometimes they have gone to the edge of my hay field and nested there. The problem is skunks or whatever come nosing around and usually eat the eggs. This helps keep the duck population down but it is also good to have a few 'replacements' for 'free'. To that end I have thought of building some type of floating 'island' that rode low enough in the water that you could plant grass on it and it would self water by the roots making contact with the water. Presumably the females would then nest there and be safe since it is out on the water. Haven't really put any more thought into it than that. I will say that anything you build would have to be farily low or have a 'swim deck' that is right at water level to make it easier for them to get on. Unlike the wild ducks mine have a hard time getting up onto the ice in the winter... I think domestic ducks ride a little lower in the water than the wild ones... same thing that keeps them flying

just a little too well fed

czechsonofagun · Jan 31, 2014

Yes, I plan to give them means to get up on the platform such as board with steps on it.

As of now, they sleep on the end of the pier - safety precaution I guess. There is already pile of guano in that spot - where I usually fish from

Seems like they sleep on top of the poop, for heat maybe?

I have a deep dislike of treated lumber, will probably use oak or cedar for the platform, with some kind of a shelter on top - and the rest will be up to them.

Sometimes they even sit on the top of my sugarcreek fountain floater when it is not operational, I believe they will adapt anything floating quickly for the safety of it.