The ducks are getting a new, permanent home – slowly but surely. Last week we did some deconstruction and site prep. This past weekend I drew up some loose plans and we started building.
The duck house should give each bird about 4-6 square feet of space while the run area can be anywhere from 10-25 square feet per bird. This wide variation may have to do with the breeds you select and the personality of your flock. My girls like a lot of space, so I aimed for more wiggle room.
I designed the entire enclosure to fit along our side yard, using our existing fence as one side. The whole area is approximately 6′ x 16′ and it lines up at one end and attaches to our chicken coop.
The duck house is 3′ x 6′ with one end built with an access door for collecting eggs and cleaning out bedding. The run will be 6′ x 13′ and about 5′ tall so we can get in and walk around fairly easily.
We have used a combination of new and salvaged materials. Most of the posts for framing have been pressure-treated cedar. Not my preference since they use chemicals to treat the wood, but it was roughly seven times more expensive for untreated cedar.
So far we have everything framed and the duck house walls and floor up. We still need to attach the metal fencing to the enclosure and put on roofs – always a tricky part. It’s going slower than I want, but that seems to always be the case with construction projects. I think I know how we will be spending the Christmas holiday…
Wow, it’s like a deluxe livestock mansion! Your girls are (pardon the pun) lucky ducks!