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Building a duck shed

We had only been on our croft for 2 months but we already had big plans! One of such plans was to establish and keep a flock of ducks. The back of our land has a large pond and there is 2.5 acres of land for the birds to free-range in so it was more of a matter of when we get ducks than if we were getting ducks.
​

Sadly, our focus in the first year of living in Orkney shifted to becoming more financially secure and establishing the home rather than focusing on the garden, so the plans to keep ducks got postponed until our first duck egg incubation in April 2018. However, during our initial excitement we did manage to convert an old 4 ft x 6 ft wood storage shed into a fairly decent duck house.
​
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DIY duck shed built from recycled wood
We were given some old floor boards by a neighbour who was remodeling their house at the time, so we had some free timber ready to be used. The shed was there and simply needed an additional wall built - so it was simply a matter of cobbling some wood onto the shed and building a suitable enclosure with the recycled materials we had.
​

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The incubation was not a great success and we only hatched one lonely duckling who now prefers to sleep in the open air of our courtyard rather than using this duck shed. This kinda answers my question regarding insulation - it is unlikely that ducks need additional warmth and so the shed is completely ready to go just as soon as we acquire more ducks in the future. Building it was time well spent indeed!
​

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  • Home
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Wine List & Recipes
    • Banana Wine Made Simple
    • Blaand
    • Blackberry Mead
    • Christmas Pudding Wine!
    • Easy Rhubarb Wine
    • Gorse Flower Wine
    • Gutsy Ginger Wine
    • Liquorice Wine
    • Mead Making Made Simple
    • Mint Wine Recipe
    • Mushroom Wine
    • Nasturtium Leaf Wine
    • No Boil Rhubarb Wine
    • Pine Needle Wine
    • Pumpkin Wine
    • Rose Hip Leaf Wine
    • Red Kidney Bean Wine!
    • Rose Petal Wine
    • Seaweed Wine
    • Spiced banana wine
    • Turnip and Red Cabbage Wine
    • Wine Making 101
    • What is a country wine?
    • ​Can I use bread yeast to make wine?
  • Homestead
    • Dee's Corner >
      • Military wife blog
      • First Time Pregnant
    • Projects >
      • SmallholdersUK
      • Beard Award
      • #Eday on Twitter
    • Recipes >
      • Homemade Cheese
      • Pickled Quail Eggs
      • Simple Bread Loaf
      • Banana Ice-Cream
      • Rhubarb Chutney (Old)
      • Making Sea Salt on the Log Fire
      • Shepherds pie for the dogs
    • Our Island >
      • Homestead or Smallholding
      • 18 days until we move!
      • 10 days until we move
      • 2 Days to go!
      • We are here!
      • Waterworks!
      • Location is not the answer
      • Remote Living Challenges
      • The Caves
      • Reason to waggle (caves)
      • Sea Fishing in Eday
    • Duck >
      • Duck shed
      • Duck 1: Incubation
      • Duck 2: Imprinting
      • Duck 3: Outdoors
      • Duck 4: Attached
    • Quail >
      • Quail 1: Reasons
      • Quail 2: Incubation
      • Quail 3: Brooding
      • Quail 4: Raising
      • Quail 5: Suicidal
      • Quail 6: Permaculture
      • Quail 7: Environment
      • Quail 8: Setup
    • Chickens >
      • Chickens Fancy vs Warren
      • Ebay Eggs
      • Our Egg Hatching Plan
      • Nursing Chickens 1 - 2018
      • Brooding Chickens 1 - 2018
      • Hatching Chickens 1 - 2018
    • Home & Garden >
      • Baby Starling
      • Spider Plants
      • Aloe Vera
      • Fuel for winter
      • Peat, Coal, Wood
      • Hoarding Supplies
      • Coffee grounds
      • Brewers Hops
      • Brewers grain
      • Teabag compost
      • Essential oils
      • Eco Toothbrush
      • No Fridge?
    • Other articles >
      • The best and the worst of dog food!
      • Random acts of kindness
      • Bristol No Foraging
      • Philosophy on Raising Children
      • Close encounter with Bulls
      • Blog