4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[grunger]

Hi all, many thanks for the words of wisdom over the last few weeks, we have finally got some call ducks and they seem to be settling in!

 

 

and for those who want to see the first time out the link below should work

http://s219.photobucket.com/albums/cc259/grunger33/?action=view&current=PICT2460.flv

 

 

There is a bigger area they can roam outside of the enclosed area shown which they will hopefully be able to range around but we've still got some fencing to finish off.

They do seem to like their pool and duck-decking though which was simply made from a seed tray and an old pallet sunk into the ground!

They did'nt seem to phased by the noise of the neighbour a few doors down chainsawing, and shredding an old conifer tree!

...they also seem to be generally calm and quiet (at the moment) for call ducks which I wasn't expecting but was a nice surprise

[Lewis]

Welcome to the forum

 

Just watched your video, they looked happy once they were brave enough to leave their carrier

 

Do they have names yet?

[ChrisEllis]

Just watched your video - they look excellent - i have the same cat basket as you - except our chickens seemed to hardly poo but for the 5 secs they were in the cat basket going from brooder to outside they managed to make a total mess of it

 

I love what you have done with your pond - could you write some details on it? Size - how you done it - pump it etc. Would be much appreciated by me as i dont know what to do for a pond

[Lesley]

Nice set-up - they seem very happy

 

Be careful with gaps in the duck decking.......you may find that they catch their feet in it. If you can fill in the gaps it might be better?

[Guest]

Hi

 

Nice duck pics they look great one question call ducks are they being noisey??

 

Re the chain saw and general noise , I always carry on as normal ie yesterday cut the lawn whilst chickens were out and they didnt bat an eyelid too busy seeing if there were any tasty morsals in the grass to peck at! So just carry on.

 

Would block the gaps as already suggested as they will get their feets stuck and ducks do sprain their legs really easily etc(just put a plank of wood across the other way should solve it. I have had them damage legs on rocks and tree roots etc etc

 

But they look nice colours curious as to if they live up to their call duck name??

 

Good luck indie

[ChrisEllis]

'Call' me stupid But what does it mean by call ducks - what is the cool part ie. runner ducks - run and dont fly

[tom123]

Call ducks used to be used as decoy ducks for hunters. the females are very noisy therefore attracting wild ducks down to the pond.

 

Lovely ducks

[grunger]

Hi thanks for the tips and the comments,

Sorry for the long reply!!

We will put some thin strips of wood down the short side of the pallet tomorrow, not urgent though as there are a couple of bricks submerged on the long sides of the pallet (where they spend most of their time preening) so they tend to get in and out the longer side of the pond and don't spend much time near the holes - but it will be done! .

The pond itself is just a large seed tray which just by coincidence fitted into a 4x3' pallet and was pretty much the exact depth, (so i guess it was slightly smaller than this - it looks about the same size as some of the plasterers trays i saw in another thread) so we just dug out some soil, quite deep (really light sandy stuff) filled the bottom with rocks and hardcore to make a soak away, and sunk the pallet in, easy enough to tip out and refil with the water from the water butts. we just cut out the strips of wood on the pallet on the top side and it was still rigid enough with the strips that were left.

There is another larger (530 litre ish?) pond outside their 'run' in a larger enclosure but we need to secure ther perimeter fencing of this area over the next week before they can enjoy that - I think that one will have to be refilled on a weekly rather than daily basis! We are planning on getting a toolstation/screwfix direct type pump, and maybe a battery operated pophole (the eglu cube is butted up to the WIR and we made a square doorway and runners so that a square 'door' piece of plywood cun run vertically up or down on, outside the horizontal cube door, which is always left open)

Hopefully might post a few more pics of that when it's all completely finished if people are interested. I think the dimensions of the WIR are about 5M x 2.5M and the area outside this is about double that again.

As for their noise, one of the females 'Vera, from the 'Jack and Vera' pair is definitely the most vocal, but has only really quacked when I tried to pick her up and place in the cube at dusk yesterday, the others 'daisy from the Daisy and Dave' pair also quacked a bit, but nowhere near as incessantly as I thought, or indeed as much as the rooks, magpies and seagulls in the vicinity! Although the nearest house is about 20 yards away? If that helps.

I guess as they grow more confident they might quack more, but at the moment they only seem to do it when they are anxious? Oh and when they got excited by the hosepipe and enjoyed a brief shower.

Also I did make a modification to the ramp that sits on the existing eglu cube ladder, it didn't originally have sides, now it does and a couple of plywood lengths on hinges at the bottom end to funnel them up at night, and fold back in the day as when i tried to usher them up they would go around the sides up and off etc. but now it's a lot more straightforward!

A couple more links to a couple more clips which give a better idea of the whole area

http://s219.photobucket.com/albums/cc259/grunger33/?action=view&current=PICT2470.flv

 

http://s219.photobucket.com/albums/cc259/grunger33/?action=view&current=PICT2471.flv

 

Once again thanks everyone, a great and informative forum!

[Lesley]

That all sounds really good - your OH (?) looked soooooo pleased to be caught by the camera

[Guest]

your set up looks like duck paradise, is the bench so you can sit and admire them all.

 

They look very happy on their pond anyway indie

[debbie26pet]

wow looks great set up and i like the ducks, now to add them to my wish list

the pond idea now i like that can i ask how you are empting it? im newish to duck keeping and im using a kids sand/water pit, but i prefer your idea better, its just the empting i cant get my head round. can you give me idea on how you will empty it etc?

 

also were did you get such a big seed tray from, ive asked around and all they seem to offer is the tiny ones even i cant get my big toe in is there another name to them?