When starting to raise ducks last year we were so inexperienced with everything, that the people at the local farm-store convinced us to spend a fortune for a prefabricated chicken-cube:
After our ducks outgrew that little house and i built a large home for them on the duck-platform the house was disassembled and stored in a cold, dark place.
This spring i enhanced it a little bit and it housed the Spring Ducklings for about two weeks before they joined the grown ducks. Then it went to a flat spot on the lawn where the duck quickly figured out that they can use it for secret meetings and to escape the full sun during the day. And the inside turned into an eyesore, made out of brown grass and duck-poop…
Finally i got my hands on three large pallets that were in great shape, i dismantled one and used the boards to fill the gaps between the boards on the other two pallets. Red barn paint, left over deck restoration paint, 12 bricks and i had a nice flat platform in the middle of the hill-site:
Assembled the house on top of it and voila, a home away from home for the ducks:
So far the duckies are still upset with me because i moved their duck-cave to a new location, but i've spotted the first ones under the platform…
More pictures in my Duck Vacation Home album.
Edit 2020-09-24: I have moved the vacation home to a separate part of my pastures, so it can house the 2020 Fall Ducklings and give them access to a fenced-in piece of meadow:
After our ducks outgrew that little house and i built a large home for them on the duck-platform the house was disassembled and stored in a cold, dark place.
This spring i enhanced it a little bit and it housed the Spring Ducklings for about two weeks before they joined the grown ducks. Then it went to a flat spot on the lawn where the duck quickly figured out that they can use it for secret meetings and to escape the full sun during the day. And the inside turned into an eyesore, made out of brown grass and duck-poop…
Finally i got my hands on three large pallets that were in great shape, i dismantled one and used the boards to fill the gaps between the boards on the other two pallets. Red barn paint, left over deck restoration paint, 12 bricks and i had a nice flat platform in the middle of the hill-site:
Assembled the house on top of it and voila, a home away from home for the ducks:
So far the duckies are still upset with me because i moved their duck-cave to a new location, but i've spotted the first ones under the platform…
More pictures in my Duck Vacation Home album.
Edit 2020-09-24: I have moved the vacation home to a separate part of my pastures, so it can house the 2020 Fall Ducklings and give them access to a fenced-in piece of meadow: