Need to build a duck house

[rswyan]

Nice work ... :thumbsup:

 

[s219]

Still raining a lot here. Today was the first chance I've had to work on the duck house since the last update, and I still got rained on a couple times during the day! Managed to get the roof framed and put in the door.





Tomorrow is supposed to be rain-free, so I hope to put up the roof panels. Rain returns tomorrow night, supposed to get about 2" through Sunday, then off and on rain next week.

The ducks are big enough to hop out of the big tub we've been keeping them in (in my workshop). My wife has been putting them outside in a makeshift wire pen with a kiddie pool for a roof during the day, which the ducks love. But I caught a raccoon sniffing around the pen at 4pm yesterday! Hopefully I can get the duck house finished by next week.

 

[EddieWalker]

Your making good progress. Are you going to fence in an area for them too?

 

[s219]

Your making good progress. Are you going to fence in an area for them too?

Yes, but not sure how yet -- might make some sort of movable fence or run that we can put in different parts of our grass area. The pen my wife is using now is just some hardware cloth and t-posts, and I told her she's getting real good at moving it around...

Weather was great today except my eyes had a hard time adjusting to that bright object in the sky. Got the roof panels and ridge cap on, and was able to put siding on one gable end before it got dark. I used scrap pine siding (rough sawn) that was leftover from my barn.



Since this was such a small roof, I eyeballed the panels instead of checking square and setting up a reference string to align the eave edge. On one side, the panels came out dead perfect. The other side was off by about 1/4" but not really noticeable. No way I'd try that on a longer roof, but for just 10' of eave length, eyeballing works fine.

 

[EddieWalker]

Nice touch with the heart. Are you going to run power out there? I have a light switch inside my garage that I can turn on a light inside my chicken coop without having to actually go outside. It's really nice when we hear something, or the dogs react to something out there. We also have an outlet in the coop for a heater that goes under their water that we keep plugged in during the winter.

 

[s219]

I was just thinking about power, or more specifically, power and water. I have a long piece of UF wire that I have been using as an extension cord for a couple years, and I've been thinking eventually I'd put in a trench and run it to my barn. That's about 40' away from the duck house, so I could service both structures with that run. I'd also like to put a water hydrant out near the duck house for cleaning up, etc. I think later this summer, I'll rent a trencher and run power and water out there.

 

[EddieWalker]

I did mine after the fact too. We had a hose in the area, but it wasn't very close to the chicken coop, so when I started building our Garden Kitchen, I ran a 12/3 line out there. Fortunately the ground was still soft and I was able to dig the trench with a shovel. I put one switch on one of the hot lines so I could turn on the light inside there from indoors. We also use it for heat during winter. We've learned that the chickens lay more eggs when they are warm. The outlet is live all the time, but we only use it during winter to plug in the heater that goes under their water. It's up high in the gable end of the coop so they cannot mess with it. The cord is just long enough to allow the heater to rest on some cinder blocks that we put the water on. You never want to leave the water or the foot on the ground because they will just poop in it.

When I built my second coop, I did the same thing with power.

I put another water spicket closer to the coop. We like being able to take the waterer out of the coop to clean it out. That way the grass gets all the mess and the coop remains clean and dry.

 

[s219]

Well, the duck house is up and running, though I still have a few odds and ends to wrap up. Ducks seem happy and wife is very happy, since it's a lot easier on her.



I want to put some trim over the edges of the mesh to neaten things up, put in a more permanent swimming tub with drain, and then rig up some sort of trough to catch runoff from hosing the floor and drain it away. The big thing is to build a ramp for the ducks so they can get in and out of the door without help.

 

[EddieWalker]

Don't forget the power washer to keep the wood floor clean!!!

 

[BoylermanCT]

I raise chickens and ducks, and built them a house and covered run, and then I use electric net fence from Premier1 fence (online) to enclose a 1/2 acre yard for them to enjoy. I used to lose 2-3 a month to predators, but once the fence went up, all of my losses stopped.





I still have predators, but they stay on the other side of the fence! Here is a resident cat looking longingly at the chickens and ducks. The camera is 6" from the electric fence.