Almost time for freedom

While looking up info on ducks we found a great deal on some surplus ducks. The catch was they needed to be picked up soon. That gave me 7 days to get their pen and house built. Of course that is not what was planned for the week, so between work, prior engagements, and rain, I only had 4 days that I could work on this project.

The chickens are already on the one mostly level part of the yard. That meant my project started with making a 10x14 foot level pad to start the base. After doing that I think I know why my house is a split level house. Between the rocks and roots there is not a even a level rectangle that small to be dug out in my yard.

So after 3 evenings, 3 Home Depot stops, and 1 really long day this if the newly occupied duck home.

8x8x8 pen, 4x4 house, 4 ducks, and a real door. I'm quite proud of my door. It's square, it's braced, it swings smooth and level, and it has even clearance all around. The pen is sturdy and stable as I confirmed when I used an extension ladder to climb up the sides to secure the fencing across the top.

The 3 girls, They like to perch on the horizontal poles. They are not ready for hand feeding yet. I tried, and and the darkest one took flight, circled once and landed back on her perch. Thankfully I was not pooped on during the fly over.

Out handsome drake. When I cut out the door I didn't know how big they were going to be so I guessed a little.  At 12 inches at the bottom, 8 inches at the top, and 14 inches tall, the door is just big enough for him to squeeze through.  He does seem to enjoy the small door now. In the morning he will stand in the door  blocking the girls while he surveys the land before walking over to their little pool. And at night he will make sure nothing got inside, then ushers the girls inside, stands in the door way looking smug before going in to snuggle with his little harem for the night.

Though I did not get a picture of it, the secure of the pen was tested my an owl. We were taking the dogs out for their bed time potty run when and owl bounced off the pen. I heard the noise and looked just in time to see a gray colored owl flying off into the trees.

As we understand the process we are supposed to leave the ducks in their pen for a week or 2 to make the recognize the pen as their home. They've been in for week, so something this week we'll let them out and herd them a few feet down to the muddy mosquito breeding pit. Hopefully we are doing it right and we'll still have 4 ducks in the pen that night.

Next up - my new used wood chipper that I was given because it would start and it was just taking up too much space in someones garage.