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Converting a Dog House for Ducks

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Converting a dog house into a duck house is an easy, inexpensive way to house your ducks safely.

When we had only two ducks, they happily slept in the chicken coop with the chickens in a wooden box on the floor.  

But when we got 5 more ducklings last spring, I decided it was time for the ducks to have their own house.  

Fortunately there was an old wooden doghouse at the edge of our property that had been sitting empty since we bought our house.  

Converting a Dog House for Ducks

What you Need |

Old wooden doghouse
Paint
Paint brush
Cordless drill with saw hole bit
1/2" welded wire
Short 1x12" board
Thin wooden slats
Hammer 
Nails
Plywood
4 sets of hinges
2 predator-proof locking eye hooks
2 knobs

What you Do |

Here's how I converted a dog house for ducks.

First I dragged the dog house into the driveway and swept out the squirrel and mice nests and all the cobwebs, then I hosed it down well and let it dry.

Then I enlisted my husband's help to carry the dog house down to the chicken run and set about converting it into a duck house.

This is what the dog house looked like when I tackled my project.


After the good scrubbing, I set the doghouse up on wooden boards to get it off the ground so the bottom won't rot and to prevent predators from digging up underneath it.

Then the doghouse got a new coat of paint.

Then using cedar shakes (about $8/bundle at Lowes), and starting at the bottom of each side, I nailed a new cedar shingle roof over the old shingles.



I cut ventilation holes in the front and back of the doghouse with a saw hole bit and stapled 1/2" hardware cloth on the inside to prevent access by mice, rats or weasels.

A piece of wood with some slats nailed to it makes a nice ramp.

I cut a door from a piece of plywood to fit the opening and then attached a predator-proof eye hook latch.

A hole cut in one side of the house with a wooden box attached (made out of scraps of plywood) becomes a nesting box.  Of course baby Bella couldn't resist checking it out !

A shingled, hinged roof completed the box. And of course I added another predator-proof eye hook to the lid as well.


I cut a ventilation window in the opposite side, stapled 1/2" welded wire over it and then used the plywood cutouts to make hinged doors for it.


My new duck house is coming along very nicely so far, using just leftover scraps of wood and the cedar shakes.  I did switch out the plain metal hinges for these black barn hinges.  A small investment and they look so much nicer.



I hand painted a sign for above the door for the ducks....


And then I added some straw bedding and stapled up an old bandanna that I cut into curtains for the nesting box.  Ducks like their privacy too !

Finally I constructed a small attached run using more 1/2" welded wire and some wooden supports. Easy afternoon project.  And now the ducks have a nice, warm, dry, safe house to sleep in. 



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