Instant Pond

[bindian]

That's what it's all about right there. Kids and grand kids enjoying the land and critters with you. Good job!

Thanks. Yep, that is what it is all about. Just wish Dad was here to see it all........my ducklings and his Great grand daughter.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

You sure built that cage to last. Are you going to be raising ducks every year?

Eddie

Eddie,
I learned how to build from my Dad. He always built stout. I made the cage heavy duty to move it around as needed. I might do ducks every spring.........cause I found a good reliable source on Craigslist for Mallards. If I do that.......I'll put the cage on a concrete slab and add a roof on the cage.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Brandi,
Chloe's big eyes sure showed she liked the ducks. We always have such a good time when the grandkids show up at the place.

Charlie

Charlie,
Chloe sure seemed to like them. It is all worth it when you hear them tell their parents........."I wanna go to Grams house".
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

I think "someone" has gone into the "duck bidness":laughing: Nice job Brandi and no shortage of staples!

BTW in the 1st photo, what is the Red on the floor? wine or is big red shedding

Dennis,
Thanks! Ducks are so cool and I never liked any other poultry. So maybe it will be duck sales. I plan on putting rabbit cages in that area after the ducks are grown, but I can always put them on the back side of the barn stall and fence that in also. I want to add a roof further out and add a catch pen to that added roof...........for either calves or a wild mustang. Yeah, I want a Mustang to ride.

I used 9/16th inch staples in a Harbor Frieght pneumatic staple gun. Works great, but I wanted to make sure they held the wire if a dog tries to barrel through the wire. I also used the pneumatic staple gun to "hang" the horse fence wire. Then I came back and stretched it and hammered in 3/4 inch staples. I really need to get some 1 & 1/2 inch staples for that horse fence.

The RED on the concrete is overspray from painting the offset disc last spring. It is slowly coming up in "various" ways.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Awesome Brandi! 2 of mine are the big white Japanese ducks and will certainly not fly off. 2 smaller ones, one has a really funny name I don't recall and the other looks like a mallard, but has an electric dark blue look instead of the green a mallard usually would. I'm going to get a 3 or 4 more this week and brood them up too, then combine to the herd.

The ducks need to keep their noses clean and will make a mess out of your watering dish constantly splashing it everywhere. It only gets worse as they get older. If you add a small pool for them to play in, they will enjoy it a lot. Need to make sure they have a ramped way back out of it. They are not very coordinated with their legs and are weak there. I put my brooder out under the shed roof this time because the one thing you will soon find out is that they stink horribly. Nothing like chickens. Much much much worse when confined. I couldn't wait for them to get big enough to let out free. Now they don't stink but have the whole yard to mess in, so I never notice it, but when they were in the coop with the chickens, they were terribly smelly beasts.

Thanks Tractorshoper! They can get smelly. Seems the older they get, the less water they are wasting in the waterers. I wanted to dig a hole and line it with plastic, yesterday, for a swimmin' hole, but my daughter was here and it got cold after she left. So next weekend they get a built in swimmin' hole.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Western]

Dennis,
Thanks! Ducks are so cool and I never liked any other poultry. So maybe it will be duck sales. I plan on putting rabbit cages in that area after the ducks are grown, but I can always put them on the back side of the barn stall and fence that in also. I want to add a roof further out and add a catch pen to that added roof...........for either calves or a wild mustang. Yeah, I want a Mustang to ride.

I used 9/16th inch staples in a Harbor Frieght pneumatic staple gun. Works great, but I wanted to make sure they held the wire if a dog tries to barrel through the wire. I also used the pneumatic staple gun to "hang" the horse fence wire. Then I came back and stretched it and hammered in 3/4 inch staples. I really need to get some 1 & 1/2 inch staples for that horse fence.

The RED on the concrete is overspray from painting the offset disc last spring. It is slowly coming up in "various" ways.
hugs, Brandi

Brandi, I had to take a jab at the red paint:laughing: You did a heck of a job stretching the wire, that stuff can be a pain in the rear at times. Turned out real nice. When I had swans, I liked having them around and they sure kept folks from "over fishing" my ponds!! They are b-e-utiful and very protective of their space, you never seen a kid run so fast when a big swan has had enough of them.

 

[bindian]

Brandi, I had to take a jab at the red paint:laughing: You did a heck of a job stretching the wire, that stuff can be a pain in the rear at times. Turned out real nice. When I had swans, I liked having them around and they sure kept folks from "over fishing" my ponds!! They are b-e-utiful and very protective of their space, you never seen a kid run so fast when a big swan has had enough of them.

Dennis,
Dad was an Aggie and raised on a farm. He instilled in me you have to have tight, straight fenced. He used to have a woven wire stretcher that bolted together. It had a "walking beam" lever to tighten the wire. I never saw it in action, as by the time I was big enough to remember, we used come-a-longs. I stretched this fence with just a claw hammer....just like we used to do to barbed wire.

I will have to take a photo where my BH grader blade caught the fence, while putting a slope to the area the cage sits on. It's real ugly.
hugs, Brandi

 

[tractorshopper]

Brandi, your set up is great and they will love your ponds. My two white ducks are Pekin's, one duck is a kacki something or other, one is a Rouen. Last night I picked up 4 more chicks and 4 more ducks, all Rouen's this time because they didn't have any other types to choose from. The Rouens are like your mallards, but have an electric dark blue color instead of the green on the mallards. The baby ducks look identical to yours. I'm always amazed how fast the ducks and chicks grow. Tiny right now, but seem to double in size each week. When yours are grown and you put them in the pond, please post pics!!

 

[tractorshopper]

 

[bindian]

View attachment 366418

TS,
Is that a Buff or the Khaki you mentioned, in the photo? My ten Mallards went through almost 50 pounds of Chick Starter food in 3 weeks. Gotta get them on the pond and the land I plan to fence and plant a "wet" garden of chufa and other duck edibles. This is right behind the island pond's dam
hugs , Brandi