Duck House and Run

We have finally been able to check one of our many projects off the list. The duck house and run are complete!

You can see the house before in the above picture– this was last June. The people who lived here before us had this inside of the shed. We pulled it out so that we could make room in the shed for our chickens and nesting boxes. It didn’t look too bad from a distance, but it was in rough shape. We moved it to the new location and took the doors off so that we could paint it all. We wanted it painted to match what we will do with the new chicken coop.

Scott built a new ramp and door so that the ducks will be safe at night.

I don’t mind painting, but all of these little details made me crazy.

The old roof was completely rotten. We pulled it off and Scott built a new roof out of plywood. Then, we used rolled roofing on top of that. For rolled roofing, you need roofing cement and roofing nails. It was super easy to do on a small scale like this. We just rolled it out on the ground, measured, and cut. Scott put the cement on the roof, then we both lifted it on and positioned it. Nails were put in to secure it, and it was done. The roof was probably the easiest part of the project.

Putting everything back together was the trickiest puzzle ever. But, it was completely worth it. It looks so much nicer, and we feel more confident that the ducks will be safe from predators at night.

We have only been able to work on this over the weekends. It took about four weekends to get all of this complete. Scott and the girls buried hardware cloth all the way around the run so that nothing can dig underneath. It is almost time for the ducklings to go outside for good. We are so, so thankful for all that we have been blessed with.

Tarter stock tank— this will be their “pool” to play in
Run kit— do NOT use this as a chicken coop like it is advertized as. Predators could easily get in. That is why we spent so much time making the house secure. We only have hawks as daytime predators, and they won’t work hard enough to get through this. At night would be a different story.
Clark & Kensington satin white exterior paint
Clark & Kensington satin neutral base exterior paint— Midnight stroll
Duck Waterer— this is still inside with the ducks, but we love this waterer for them