duck hut

In preparation for keeping ducks, we built a coop out of wood reclaimed from the previous owner's skateboarding half-pipe.

It's about 8'x12', with about a 6' ceiling (and the roof pitched higher).  I added a little platform and ramp to sluice waste water (ducks are super messy) out of the coop.

We saved a ton by using the reclaimed wood and screws, but I still spent probably $200 on shingles, extra hardware, some electrical parts.  It was a good project with help from friends and sons.

We started the disassembly over christmas break 2016, and finished the coop in late Jan '17.  The ducks moved in in approximately May (we'd kept them in the garage for warmth since we got them as day old hatchlings).

Today 17 ducks live in it (follow their exploits here: https://twitter.com/remquacks ) and we get 4-6 eggs/day from the 6 that are mature layers.  Later in November the other 11(I got a second batch) should come online and we'll have more eggs than we can handle.

Disassembly (to reclaim supplies)
lots of nails and screws to remove (we actually reused most of the screws):

knocking concrete off the posts
Laying out the new footprint:

A form for the concrete footing:

Walls:

 Roofing trusses and ridge beam:
elijah helping
Framing

Roofing
first the decking
Thanks Ashok!
Thanks Elijah
Then the tar paper
 Running Power
the boys are great trenchers

 

Finished
Occupied!

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