Floating Duck House

[alexsbuddy]

After numerous unsuccessful attempts to round up our ducks at the end of the day (they preferred staying on the pond at night), my wife and I decided to provide them some shelter on the water using a repurposed small chicken coop. Here is a picture of our floating duck house....the SS Moby Duck:

Basically it is a 2x4 base frame with a plywood deck (measures 4'x7') with seven 4" PVC pipe pontoons that each measure 7' long. I covered all of the open areas of the coop and cut out a small entrance for the ducks to go in and out. It is secured to both sides of the pond via marine rope and posts. Will be adding a ramp to make it easier for the ducks to go from the water to the deck and will paint the whole thing (exterior only) this spring.

It took the ducks a couple of days to figure out that the newcomer to the pond was not going to eat them and they are now using it. At least now they have a sheltered place to go to get out of the weather and it keeps them safe from the predators.

 

[EddieWalker]

Neat idea. Do they use it?

My ducks used to all sleep along the shoreline. Then one day two coyotes came along and killed seven of them. They took two of them and left the other five just laying there. After that I ran three rows of hot wire to keep them out and haven't had any losses to coyotes since then.

I also built a two stall horse barn that the ducks seem to really enjoy during the summer, but now that it's winter, they are not using it. Once again, they are all sleeping along the shoreline.

 

[scdeerslayer]

I wouldn't put a ramp on it unless you want the turtles to get in there. And thinking about it now, a ramp would also make it easier for a fox or other predator to get into the house.

 

[KubotaToy]

I did just a floating platform in my pond, but the ducks hardly use it. The only time they use it is if I want to catch them. They mostly sleep along the shore but sometimes on my pier. I have a fence to keep most animals out but the foxes seem to find the weak spots a lot.

 

[s219]

Cool idea!

 

[alexsbuddy]

My ducks are using it off and on. Last night it got down to 7 degrees and most of them (seven) were on it when I checked at dawn, but one was missing. Unfortunately, I found some evidence along the bank that indicated she fell victim to coyotes. Tonight the remaining seven decided they wanted to bunk up with chickens so they are all safe and snug.

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

Shoot, I thought we were going to talk about duck blinds

Cool idea, and I'm sure the ducks like it.

 

[BoylermanCT]

Very nice! My mallard and pekin ducks want nothing to do with my 2 acre pond. They think it is the pond of death! But I have wild wood ducks, mallards and canadian geese that stop by on a regular basis in spring, summer and fall. I've been planning on building a large island and your floating house gives some good ideas.

View attachment Pond View.jpg

 

[Zockel]

Well done on the construction. I did something similar a few years back but skimmed on the pontoons. It sank after a couple of months . The PVC pipes are a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
How are you going to retrieve the duck eggs come spring? Mine figured out pretty quickly that this was the save place for laying.

 

[BoylermanCT]

Well done on the construction. I did something similar a few years back but skimmed on the pontoons. It sank after a couple of months . The PVC pipes are a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
How are you going to retrieve the duck eggs come spring? Mine figured out pretty quickly that this was the save place for laying.

Zockel, what did you use for pontoons that didn't work out? I was thinking 2 liter bottles, and wondered if that is what failed.

I was thinking of putting a clothes line setup going across the pond, over the man made island. I would hang a feeder from the clothes line and run it out over the island to attract more wild ducks. Then I could pull it back when I need to fill it up again.

For eggs, you could use the same concept and pull the entire duck house back to shore. I am not worried about eggs since I am targeting wild ducks.

 

[alexsbuddy]

Currently, I have enough marine rope on each side to allow me to pull it to either side of the pond. This spring I will install a pulley system (pole with pulleys on each side of the pond) so that we can reel it in and out as needed.

The trick to getting it to float using pvc pontoons was in calculating the weight of the finished project and then determining how many cubic inches of pontoon volume that was going to be needed to support that displacement. I estimated that the finished project (including weight of the ducks, pontoons, and an extra 40 pounds of margin) would be approx. 270 pounds which then required approx. 7464 cubic inches of pontoon volume. I probably erred on the heavy side when calculating the estimated weight, but wanted to play it safe and not sorry. My son was taking side bets that it was going to sink like a rock, so I checked and doubled checked my math several times.....had a lot riding on proving that Dad was ALWAYS right.

 

[beowulf]

alexsbuddy, I am glad my ducks never saw your floating duck house or they would have left us. I built one a few years ago using 4 inch pvc pontoons but it was not nearly as nice as yours. Our deck was made out of a section of fiberglass corrugated roofing with a 2-2' house, and I had a ramp as it was a bit above the water line. I also used a rope to center it in the pond.

I built it because predators were taking ducklings and eggs. A cache of over a dozen duck eggs in a hollowed out stump disappeared in one night - likely raccoons. The ducks took to the duck house right away and nested there and hatched ducklings there as well. The duck house is gone and we have no "domestic" ducks but every year we get from 2 to 10 or so wild ducks coming in from time to time and I often wonder if they are the ducklings raised in our duck house. I bought the original adult ducks (6) from a feed store where they had them all stuffed into a really tiny box - so I felt I had to rescue them.

 

[BoylermanCT]

I raised 2 dozen mallard ducks on my pond a few years ago, and they grew up and flew south. Each year thereafter I have had 6-8 ducks return. I know they are my ducks because they walk up the path from the pond to the house asking for handouts!

The next Spring after the first batch left, I raised a second batch, and they would not go on the pond for anything. Stayed with the chickens in the coop and in the yard.

Maybe a floating duck house is the answer to getting batch 2 onto the pond!

 

[alexsbuddy]

I am not a duck expert by any means, but my experience has been that the breeds that are indigenous to my area are the ones that ended up going wild. Have not had this problem with Muscovey, Swedish Blues, or other non-native breeds. Not sure this is very scientific other than the fact that the non-native breeds commonly found available are inherently not great flyers over long distances. I would love to have some wood ducks, but am going to have to settle on creating the right housing/habitat to attract them knowing they will come and go.

I am okay with them coming and going. Right now I have a pair of Great Blue herons that have settled in and I occasionally get some wild geese and wild ducks that stop in for short visits. Love to sit and watch them all.

 

[BoylermanCT]

While I have been partially successful in getting mallards on the pond (the goal was to have wild ducks, not pet ducks), I have been lucky enough to have wild wood ducks. Two years ago we had one successful breeding pair and this past year we had 2 breeding pairs. I built 2 wood duck houses, and plan to add another two. I also hang chicken type feeders from hooks off the side of the dock to attract the wild ducks. One day this summer I went down to fill the feeders, and there were 13 mallard ducks, two canadian geese and the two wood duck families waiting for me!

 

[Creamer]

Very nice! My mallard and pekin ducks want nothing to do with my 2 acre pond. They think it is the pond of death! But I have wild wood ducks, mallards and canadian geese that stop by on a regular basis in spring, summer and fall. I've been planning on building a large island and your floating house gives some good ideas.

View attachment 494142

That's hilarious because my Mallards couldn't wait to hit the pond. the first day they went in and we had to go shoo them back. Bass love ducklings.

 

[bindian]

First ducks I raised, I didn't have a place for them to swim in the chicken wire enclosed "hatchery" horse sized stall. When I turned those ducks loose on my pond's island, they swam to the far shore and never went back...........for a few months. They finally realized the pond was their friend and protector. From that day, my young ducklings have a swimming pool in their stall. My ducks mainly sleep on the water, up by some shore grasses. I've lost ducks to varmints, but mainly it's the chicken hawk that makes the rounds every so often.

I am enlarging my pond and was going to remove the island, but saw the ducks finally......after 4 years, camping out on it. Then I found 3 nests with 16 eggs. So I decided to leave the island, until I read this thread.

I have wanted to remove the island as it takes a lot of room up and build a 6 inch PVC pipe floating island and use the clothes line with a crank to move the island to shore. Now I know 4 inch PVC will work...........and is way cheaper.
hugs, Brandi

 

[alexsbuddy]

Brandi, be sure to glue the end caps on real well and then apply a liberal bead of exterior grade silicone around the edges of the end caps. I used dwv pvc because it has a foam core, which adds to it's flotation ability, and was less expensive. Good luck on your project!

 

[kerlingb]

That's a very nice looking duck house. Is it top heavy at all? Or is it pretty stable?

 

[beowulf]

Then one day two coyotes came along and killed seven of them. They took two of them and left the other five just laying there.

I wonder if it was coyotes or weasels that killed and left the ducks. Our coyotes will take one chicken at a time and have never just killed and left any. But weasels will just go on a killing spree and kill everything they can get hold of.