The next 101, on creating a duck house, originates from HOMEGROWN member Lauren, the Ohio homesteader behind Honest Desires Farm. (If you want her how-to below, take a look at her Raising Ducks 101.) Thanks a lot, Lauren, and please keep your plans hatching.
Chickens will be in the limelight for a long time now, as well as our nonhomesteading buddies have thrown around the thought of “pet” chickens. Who wouldn’t give a minimum of a short shown to getting fresh eggs right out the backyard?
What about this other fowl friend: the adorable quacking duck? It’s about time ducks enjoyed a renaissance all of their own. The lovable factor is from the charts, and getting some fluffy adorableness to your personal is almost irresistible.
If you’re a well-prepared homesteader, you’ll have read every book on ducks and pored over every resource found on the internet. Or you might dive in whenever your husband brings home three adorable Cayuga ducklings as he was said to be buying chicken feed. Obviously, that will never take place, right? (Find out more of Lauren’s adventures in duck rearing and her tips about how it can be done, too, in her own excellent Raising Ducks 101.)
Your house, one of the ways or another, you finish track of ducklings. Which side you retain them when they are developed? Don’t worry. We built a lovely, sturdy duck house with materials we’d on hands, and you may, too.
Step One: Search For INSPIRATION
Just like a chicken house, the different options are just as much or less than you would like on the duck house. Within this stage of planning, I researched all of the lovely ideas I possibly could imagine, envisioning something straight from the pages of Country Living. Things I got being better, though, since it was free—and charming inside a rustic, functional way. Knowing the thing you need and what you would like assists in keeping any project on the right track.
Step Two: DETERMINE YOUR CRITERIA
For instance, my needs for any duck house incorporated:
- Simple to clean
- Movable
- Cheap reely
- Cute
- Simple to clean (So, so, essential. The odor of untidy, wet duck poop is one thing horrible.)
Step Three: IDENTIFY MATERIALS
There aren’t any professional woodworking skills needed, unless of course you’re a perfectionist. (But in one recovering perfectionist to a different: Let it rest in the door.) Imperfections could be fun, and believe me, as lengthy as a home is safe, your ducks won’t care if it is immaculate. We used materials we’d on hands. Even if you want to buy several things, your duck house should be a reasonably affordable project. What you’ll need:
- Reciprocating saw (or perhaps a similar wood saw)
- Drill (or perhaps a screwdriver plus hard work)
- Drywall screws (or nails, but screws hold better)
- Calculating tape (honestly, I do not think we used one)
- Pallets (we used three)
- 8’x6’ shadow-box wood fence panels (2 ¼ total)
- Corrugated plastic (for that roof tarpaper works)
- Plywood (we reused a bit from the DIY garage cabinet door)
- Vinyl tile (for that duck house floor we’d some remaining from the dog kennel project)
- Hinges, hooks, and/or locks
- Any trim or decor elements
Step Four: LOCATE SUPPLIES For Affordable
We didn’t wish to put money into the duck house, therefore we searched our half-acre homestead to determine what we should had on hands. Everybody recognizes that pallets are simple enough to find, however, you might be able to score wood fencing free of charge, too. We did! One of the ways is as simple as stopping if you notice someone obtaining a new fence installed. Consult with the job crew and find out should you can’t get that old wood fence that’s getting replaced. We could get a lot of stockade panels this way.
You could also seek advice from a nearby fence company. We stopped by one nearby from us, and can turn out they need to pay to possess old fencing discarded. Obviously, we ensured to provide a thank-you gift towards the owner. What’s the price of a cafe or restaurant gift certificate in return for just as much free wood fence once we could ever want? We’ve become both completely new fencing and old fencing in good shape this way. The wood may be used in many projects you just need to be prepared to drag that old fence panels apart.
For that roofing, we’d one piece remaining from previous projects—some corrugated plastic that people got free of charge and also have utilized on our chicken house, rabbit barn, shed, green house, and today duck house. We received a roll of tarpaper remaining from the friend’s side job.
Quite simply, most probably with other people’s trash and unusable products. Scour Craig’s List, obviously, but never be afraid to prevent and get. There is a thin line between useless and ugly trash and helpful materials for example wood, metal, etc. Other materials and tools we’d on hands because we rely on them frequently.
Step Five: Construct Your DUCK HOUSE
Because we built our home from cast-off materials, I do not have step-by-step instructions to talk about here. It had been really dependent on taking what we should had and which makes it all fit together. However for a tough blueprint, we required among the 8’x6’ shadow box fence panels, work in two, and switched it sideways. We used individuals two pieces for the best and left sides of the home. Another fence piece composed the very best, using the corrugated plastic covering it. There is a slight overhang, as you can tell within the pictures, making a kind of porch.
We used two pallets like a platform to help keep the home from the ground—and movable. The leading wall is really a pallet that people cut to permit a ramp inside and outside along with a duck door. The whole back of the home is a-quarter of the shadow box fence panel on hinges. It swings entirely open to match quick access and cleaning. There is a simple gate lock to help keep it closed. We built the ramps from miscellaneous fence boards. The pieces fit
together just like a puzzle, having a minimum of cutting.
Step Six: PLAN Enhancements
If, like us, you construct your duck house from materials you’ve laying around, there’s a high probability you’ll need to make upgrades sooner or later. For just one factor, I must add a method to feed and water the ducks with no mess while they’re indoors. I’m thinking on how to do this and also have a couple of ideas. We’ll see what we should develop.
You’ll wish to consider weather factors, too. Throughout the winter, we line within our chicken house with contractor plastic. We’ll perform the same for that duck house, to avoid any biting winds from making the ducks sick or uncomfortable. We reuse this plastic again and again, so it’s very economical.
I presently muck the house having a plastic rake, however i think metallic garden rake would perform a better job. For any thorough cleaning, I personally use a hose and bleach. We’re thinking about redoing the ground to eliminate the tile overlap, which enables for many dirt and waste accumulation, and we’ll drill holes right in front corners of the home to match better drainage when we are hosing it.
Remember that you could always build in phases. When your creatures are secure, secure, and sheltered in the rain and wind, you can include extras. Personally, we’ve never been pleased with our very first time around on anything, whether it’s a fence, a coop, or perhaps a rabbit hutch. Consider our projects are extremely affordable, the largest changes when needed. Every year we improve, tweak, or rebuild once we learn and also be so that as our needs change. I imagine it will likely be exactly the same with this ducks!
STEP 7: DECORATE
You’ve attended the problem of creating your ducks an appropriate home. Why don’t you allow it to be attractive? For that DIY duck lettering observed in this photo, you’ll need:
- Spray paint
- Scissors or perhaps an X-Acto knife
- Scroll saw
- Scrap wood
- PDF files for tracing or stenciling
Should you not possess a scroll saw, you could eliminate the letters and employ them like a stencil. I’d love to visit your finished houses. Publish your photos within the comments box below! And finest wishes for any happy duck home!
SPEAK UP!
Had a question for Lauren or some duck-house blueprints to talk about? Publish a remark below and the conversation moving! If you have your personal flock of feathered fowl or are planning on obtaining some, don’t miss Lauren’s Raising Ducks 101. You could also want to consider 101s on creating a hoop house, your dog poop composter, or perhaps a bat house. If you are thinking about animals, browse the Raising Rabbits, Beekeeping, and Backyard Chickens 101s, in addition to the Backyard Animals group. You could find more items to make, craft, prepare, preserve, plant, grow, and hammer within the HOMEGROWN 101 library.
ALL PHOTOS: LAUREN KLOUDA/HONEST DESIRES FARM
Resourse: http://homegrown.org/forum/topics/
Pallet Duck House
Video COMMENTS:
Mary eh721: Nice !!
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