The building of the duck pen has commenced!

This pic is what you see when entering the pen. We will finish the framing for the door (with 3 latches) on that end once we get the rest of the wire up. We put down a skirt of hardware cloth (on 3 sides so far), then covered it with dirt. We will put down landscape fabric over that, cover it with pea gravel, then river rock that we harvest from the yard. Their shelter will be at the far end as well as a covered area for food. Their pool will be where the sun is shining on the side next to the fence.

This is the view from the other end. All the plants and grass will be gone before the end of fall. That area will be where our garden will be; during the winter the ducks can have the run of it as well as the rest of the yard, the rest of the time they can have the rest of yard excluding the garden. Though they will be allowed supervised bug/slug patrol in the garden while it's growing.

There are 2x2s on the 'roof', they will be covered with chicken wire. I think it will also make a great grape arbor!

This message was edited Sep 18, 2009 5:22 PM

The last pic shows the entrance and fence for the garden (it matches our fence in the front yard). Once the ducks are able to be outside on their own we will put green vinyl chicken 'wire' on the backside of the fence.

Quite a ducky estate! The quackers should feel honored.

Looks great!

Thank you, my DH is quite handy. I was planning on building it myself since he has told me several times that he wants nothing to do with the ducks and they are totally my responsibility. Yeah right. LOL!!

I will post pics of it when it's finished. I wanted a larger garden area but he still wants the backyard to look park-like, so we are also using part of the front yard for an herb garden.

That is wonderful LoreenH! I am in awe of all these great places, and thanks for the information about the skirt and the gravel and all.

I'll be studying your pictures.

Porkpal, she needs to invite us over to hang out, don't you think?

Definitely! I'd bring my ducks but I don't want them to know how the "other half" lives.

Sure, come on over, we can make room. We have 2 futons in the living room and an extra bedroom (currently a craft, storage, exercise, dressing room). And when the weather is nice we have our outdoor living room in the backyard with a futon, table & chairs, bench/footstool, lighting, and a ceiling fan. It's screened in so the skeeters won't get you. We built it several years ago. We're both good cooks too.

I will add more pics of the duck pen as it progresses. My DH put more boards on the bottom sections so there will be more area for the wire to be attached securely. I think the next step is putting the wire on the sides and top.

LoreenH, what lucky ducks! And you are a lucky lady to have a handy DH!

My DH just took one of the toilets apart =0. I don't know why....but I will have to put it together again this weekend. I love the big lug, but why take a new toilet apart?!? Oh, well. Vent over.

Still, I love the idea of a duck run. What kind of ducks will you have?

Terri,

I will be getting Swedish ducks, probably the black ones. I am going to order from Metzer's since I can get a small order (4-6).

Wow! Don't let my ducks see your duck's lovely abode. They will want to come live with you ;o)

Swedish ducks sound interresting. I'll have to look those up.