Building A Duck House

[kkara]

I am an A-level Product Design student. My sister owns ducks and therefore, for my coursework I have made a cheap, temporary nesting house designed to hold 1 duck and her nest/ brood. It is made from Corriflute (the plastic version of corrugated card) and is intended for self assembly which can easily be done with no specialist tools. The house is secure to the ground using guy lines and flat packs when not in use. Any comments you may have, (good or bad!) would be extremely helpful. If you have any questions, please ask! I would probably sell the house at around £30-40 which is higher than intended but still a lot cheaper than many of the other houses on the market.

Also, I need to backtrack slightly on my coursework so here are some questions intended for the start of the project. Again, I would be very grateful for any help.

1) How much would you be willing to pay for a 1 duck & 4 duckling capacity nesting house?
2) Have you encountered any problems with the duck houses currently available on the market?
3) What do you look for when buying a duck house?
4) Have you attempted to make your own house? If yes, what did you need to consider and what problems did you have?
5) Do you have any other comments which I may find helpful?

Thank You

K Kara

 

[crewy05]

Hi, first to reply and I will answer your questions first

1)I personally wouldn't pay anything as I would make one my self.
2)The duck house I have is made up in the shed, but when i bought my first duck house it was awkward to clean.
3)in a duck house i would look for security, sturdyness, quality, and easyness of cleaning.
4)Yes i have made one, things to consider, how many ducks is it going to house, size and the type of access the door, style of roof, water proofing, ventilation, safeness the list goes on and on.
5)Now if you want me to be honest then IMHO the duck house you have made isnt good enough for a duck with 4 ducklings. The door is far to small, the duck looks like it only just fits. I know of the plastic you are using and you have to take in account predators, would a predator be able to damage and brake the structure? Well with yours I would say yes, very much so. A fox could claw at it and easily rip the plastic. Also if something heavy were to fall on it I wouldn't hold much hope for anything that were in it. The size seems quite small as well, might be ok for the first few days, but ducklings grow fast and within 2 weeks it would get very cramped in there. The last point is you mention its held to the ground by guide ropes, what if the guides come out, someone trips over them? i take it the house falls over? You are better of using something strong and heavy for the base.

Hope this helps

 

[Icemaiden]

Sorry KKara; I didn't reply as I'm not an expert in ducks, being a hen keeper myself. All the same, my first reaction to the corrugated plastic was that it would be red mites' equivalent of the Hilton- all the safe hiding places that they could ask for, & nigh on impossible to get rid of the blighters.

You need to be using solid plastic, not corrugated plastic in which mites can hide.
Good luck with your project.