Coffee anyone ?

[Mini Horses]

Peggy never painted before

Wow. Hard to imagine. Break her in on a new skill.

Another nice day. Off all last week and lazed around. Tractor parts come this week. Going to do job work tue/wed, off 5 days, then 4 days of 10 hr each work...feast or famine time.

Better refill this cup and try to accomplish something....probably won't be much. why change now?!

 

[fuzzi]

I've never painted inside my house before, but I have stained my sheds. I have t-shirts with brown spots to prove it.

 

[Mother Hen]

We finally got Don & Daizy Duck yesterday afternoon. We put a dog house with extra bedding in it we hadn't used before in their pen so they would have temporary shelter. Over the winter we are going to add a fenced run to my shed on the outside then on the inside divide my shed into half, put up a wall and make a hole in the concrete side for a door for them because in the Spring we're going to be getting CHICKENS (8 months and older)!!!

ou really just need a 2 or 3 walled shelter, unless predators are a problem.

My biggest predators are eagles/raptors and dogs. With your location raccoons, possums, and snakes might also be an issue. So, build to keep all those out.

Ducks are very cold hardy. But, they do need the wind blocked. If you get a bunch of wind, it would be nice to put that clear ripple plastic on both sides of a fence corner. That way, they will have at least a bit of area free of wind.

Also, in front of that ripple plastic is a good spot to put a water pan. The sun coming through the plastic will keep the water thawed longer.

And yes, they are always messy with their water, and they need to be able to dunk their heads. So, figure out where to put the water so it will not soak bedding, and be easy to clean out.

More than likely over this weekend we are going to run chicken wire along the bottom of the pen where the ducks are to keep the predators out.
Yesterday the pool was clean when it was put in with them but this AM when I was out they have the water black. H says their pool water needs to be changed every day and I say no it doesn't seeing how ducks normally have ponds they swim in and ponds don't have clear water so who is right?

 

[SageHill]

We finally got Don & Daizy Duck yesterday afternoon. We put a dog house with extra bedding in it we hadn't used before in their pen so they would have temporary shelter. Over the winter we are going to add a fenced run to my shed on the outside then on the inside divide my shed into half, put up a wall and make a hole in the concrete side for a door for them because in the Spring we're going to be getting CHICKENS (8 months and older)!!!

More than likely over this weekend we are going to run chicken wire along the bottom of the pen where the ducks are to keep the predators out.
Yesterday the pool was clean when it was put in with them but this AM when I was out they have the water black. H says their pool water needs to be changed every day and I say no it doesn't seeing how ducks normally have ponds they swim in and ponds don't have clear water so who is right?

Ponds are deeper and more than likely have some current

 

[Blue Sky]

Ponds are deeper and more than likely have some current

Ponds also have a wide variety of microorganisms that will break down ducky doo which is high in nitrogen. But even a wild pond can be overwhelmed if it has too many waterfowl on it. Every day water changes and possibly more than that depending on the temperatures.

 

[Margali]

If you want a permanent pond with minimal cleaning, make a bog with water cleaning plants that you pump the water thru. It's called duckponics or quackaponics lol.

 

[Alaskan]

We finally got Don & Daizy Duck yesterday afternoon. We put a dog house with extra bedding in it we hadn't used before in their pen so they would have temporary shelter. Over the winter we are going to add a fenced run to my shed on the outside then on the inside divide my shed into half, put up a wall and make a hole in the concrete side for a door for them because in the Spring we're going to be getting CHICKENS (8 months and older)!!!

More than likely over this weekend we are going to run chicken wire along the bottom of the pen where the ducks are to keep the predators out.
Yesterday the pool was clean when it was put in with them but this AM when I was out they have the water black. H says their pool water needs to be changed every day and I say no it doesn't seeing how ducks normally have ponds they swim in and ponds don't have clear water so who is right?

I give my ducks and geese clean drinking water every day...

The pond for the geese gets dumped out every 2 or 3 days... Their pond is horrific... so much mud! Just nasty! So... it might be nice if I cleaned it daily... but that would be a stupid amount of water. So every 2 to 3 days for their little bathing pond.

My ducks are not as messy, and their pond is bigger, so more of a pain to dump, and takes more water to fill... the duck pond surprisingly stays clear-ish even after 2 weeks... which is about how often I dump and refill.

And when my temps are mostly 10F or lower, all ponds get emptied, and stay empty until warmer weather.

 

[Alaskan]

Oh... also...

If you can set it up so that you have a spot to dump the water, like directly on the other side of the fence where the pond sits, you have a apple tree or berry bushes... something that would love the super high in filth water... that is nice.

I have a row of raspberries up against the goose pen fence. When I dump the pond the water goes mostly-ish to the raspberries. Better ground sculpting would make that easier....

And even with all the poop, since there is also a huge amount of water, I have never "burned" the raspberries with the poop water. They still bloom and set fruit just fine.

Other thought... chicken wire will fence poultry, but it will not keep out dogs, or any difficult type predator. You need chain link, or goat fence for dogs, hardware cloth for rodents, weasels, and to keep out raccoon hands.