Need to build a duck house

[s219]

So out of the 6 duck eggs we incubated, 2 were discarded early on for no activity, 4 made it to the end, and 3 hatched successfully. We now have 3 healthy ducklings about 10 days old. They are very friendly, and follow my daughter around. They grow quite a bit each day.



My next chore is to build an outdoor house for the ducks. I see a lot of people have some sort of wooden structure for nighttime, with an adjacent screened run down on the ground. I was thinking instead, I'd build a largish (maybe 8x12) elevated screened house with regular gable roof, and then put a wood night box inside of that.

I'd like to elevate the floor of the house, maybe make it out of trex decking (with 1/4" gaps) so it can be easily hosed off, and put in some sort of collector/drain to move water away. I could also put in a small pond/pool with a drain in the floor. We have a ravine down behind the area I'm thinking of building on, so I can easily drain away any dirty water to keep the area dry and clean as best as possible.

What I am trying to avoid is having any part of the screened area down on the ground, both because it takes extra care to make that predator proof and because it would turn into a muddy mess over time. I don't want to be moving the duck house around the yard like some people do with a chicken coop, so it's going to stay put in one place.

I plan to use 1/2" wire screen on the outside of the house, and maybe add cattle panel over that to stiffen things up and provide an extra layer of security against stray dogs. The wire screen should keep out the raccoons and foxes, but I know stray dogs can go bonkers and do a lot of damage.

If anyone has feedback on my ideas, or other suggestions, please jump in! I'd rather learn from everyone's experience here than reinvent the wheel. We raised rabbits when I was growing up, so I have a lot of experience with rabbit hutches, but am starting from scratch with ducks.

thanks,
219

 

[rswyan]

Make the roof/lid on the wood night box hinged/removable ...

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Those suckers can GROW can't they!

 

[oosik]

I don't know what to tell you. I tried keeping ducks & chickens. Too many hungry predators - coyotes, weasels, raccoons,badgers,owls,hawks etc. We gave up and now enjoy watching the wild ducks & geese on our lake.

There is a private hunting club down the road. They raise & release pheasants. The "pens" have small gage heavy duty mesh wire on the "roof", walls and floors. Its a constant battle against the hungry predators.

 

[EddieWalker]

What is the house for?

I ran three strands of hot wire around my pond and front pasture. Partly to keep the horses in, but also to keep predators out. Coyotes would kill my ducks and just leave them laying there. I had 4 of them laying next to each other almost like they had been lined up to show off what they did. Racoons would also climb into the trees and kill my guineas. One hot wire is just a few inches off the ground. the other is about a foot up. Since installing the hot wire, I haven't lost a single bird. I can see their tracks as the walk up and down the fence line. I've also seen tracks where they walk up to the fence, and then turn around and leave. I don't know if they got zapped, or what happened. I'm just happy to see they left.

Right now I have a dozen guineas, 20 ducks and 7 geese on a 3/4 acre pond inside a 5 acre pasture. They wonder all over the pasture, eating bugs and grass with the horses. I also have another pasture with 3 strands of hot wire that is 7 acres that they all use during the day, but never at night time. Everyone comes back to the barn to be fed in the evening, and spend the night there.

The guineas are the only ones that leave the safety of the hot wire. They like to wonder around by the house and will probably be the ones to die from predators. It's fun to see them all over the place, so it is what it is.

 

[s219]

You know, that's interesting, I hadn't thought about an electric fence, but it may be an option, at least for the ground predators.

The main predators that I know are in the area are raccoons, foxes, bobcat, and coyote. I have seen the first two on our property many times. Have only seen the bobcat and coyote on adjacent properties, but I would not be surprised if ducks attracted them closer. Apparently possum can be a threat too, and we do have a bunch of them. I am also concerned about the ocassional stray dogs that wander through. We also sometimes have packs of beagles wander through during hunting season, but they are so busy tracking deer I don't think they'd notice a duck if it landed on their nose.

The other predators of concern are hawks, owls, and bald eagles. All very common to see overhead, especially the eagles. There are also osprey, but I think they mainly eat fish.

Here's kind of what I was thinking of doing, with an additional night box on the inside:



Basically, the ducks would spend most of their time in there except when we let them out during late afternoon (reduced threat from overhead then) to range around. I am also considering building a separate light weight "run" that can be used to contain the ducks and give them basic protection from overhead predators when we let them out of the house.

 

[teejk]

You know, that's interesting, I hadn't thought about an electric fence, but it may be an option, at least for the ground predators.

The main predators that I know are in the area are raccoons, foxes, bobcat, and coyote. I have seen the first two on our property many times. Have only seen the bobcat and coyote on adjacent properties, but I would not be surprised if ducks attracted them closer. Apparently possum can be a threat too, and we do have a bunch of them. I am also concerned about the ocassional stray dogs that wander through. We also sometimes have packs of beagles wander through during hunting season, but they are so busy tracking deer I don't think they'd notice a duck if it landed on their nose.

The other predators of concern are hawks, owls, and bald eagles. All very common to see overhead, especially the eagles. There are also osprey, but I think they mainly eat fish.

Here's kind of what I was thinking of doing, with an additional night box on the inside:

View attachment 467585

Basically, the ducks would spend most of their time in there except when we let them out during late afternoon (reduced threat from overhead then) to range around. I am also considering building a separate light weight "run" that can be used to contain the ducks and give them basic protection from overhead predators when we let them out of the house.

The ground predators are a hardware cloth thing. The overhead ones...pheasant pens I have seen will have part of the pen covered with woven wire or something similar to create a safe space (raptors usually kill like a dive-bomber and I think the kill is actually with the impact). Gonna keep watching this post...I love duck meat other than what I have to pay for it.

 

[s219]

It's been raining so much here I figured the ducks would be full grown before I got to build the house. So I started building it inside my barn where I could stay dry. Got the frame done yesterday.



I was planning to put in a Trex floor so it would clean up easier, but it would have cost about $300 for the boards/screws, and that was not in my duck budget. Ended up using #2 grade 1x6 treated deck boards, much cheaper -- about $50. I spaced the boards 1/2" to help with cleanup.

With clear weather today, I moved it out of the barn and down to its new home. I had to cut down a few trees to make room for the duck house, but that went pretty quick.

I had some cheapo harbor freight wheels/tires that my dad gave to me, and bolted them to the rear posts to move it while I used the tractor forks to lift the front. Worked well for such a rigged up arrangement.





I got everything leveled off -- ended up digging in the front posts about 6" and put blocks under the rear posts.



This is a good location, since it is mostly shaded throughout the day, with only filtered sunlight in spring/summer months to keep cool. In fall and winter it gets more sun and should be a warm spot.



Next step will be to frame in the roof later this week, then throw on some galvanized panels. Then build a door and put 1/2" hardware cloth on the sides.

 

[EddieWalker]

Those are going to be very happy, and spoiled ducks!!

 

[s219]

Those are going to be very happy, and spoiled ducks!!

I told my wife if it doesn't work out with the ducks, that's my new club house....