Floating duck house

[czechsonofagun]

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]

Google's your friend here.

 

[Gunny]

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

 

[czechsonofagun]

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

 

[EddieWalker]

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]

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]

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

 

[Lloyd_E]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[EddieWalker]

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]

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

 

[charlz]

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]

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.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Well, here are our ducks and what they already built on the pier.