Check This Out!

I was going to post pictures of the bucks today, I've been working on their feet this week and giving them a good once-over now that they have their brains returned to their cranium and they are out of rut.

But first....

On Saturday Bob and I made a quick run to a nearby town to the gamebird farm so that we could study their enclosures and come up with some ideas for workable confinement for our birds.  On the way home, a nearby business had a bunch of wooden crates and odds and ends piled out behind.  We knocked to see if there was anyone working to ask about them....but there was no one there.  So I figured I'd go back on Monday and ask.  I forgot.

Until yesterday.  So at 8 am sharp me and a volunteer went to ask about the scrap wood.  They said that at least once a month they have a bonfire to get rid of it because it's all just shipping crates.  They said we were welcomed to pick it up each month!  YEAH!

So check this out!  This is the first load...

Those are 1/2" plywood crates.  I'm thinking kid box for newborn kids....chick brooders.....

Lots of boards from heavy oak pallets.  We got three loads in all...

What a blessing!!

We also started building what will be the duck pool and deck.  We've discovered that one of the Buff ducks that we thought was a hen, is a drake.  So we're building a small pen with a duck house, pool, and deck for a pair of the Buffs and the Pekin.  We'll house the other pair separately.  Maybe in the freezer.

Now that we have a plethora of scrap wood for building, the duck pen is under way..

The drain line from the tub goes directly onto the compost pile.  It will add nutrients and water every time I clean the pool...

We're building a 2' wide deck around 2 sides, with a ramp for them to get up and down.  Then on the opposite end of the pen we're building a duck house with hinged lid for egg removal. 

A big thanks to Kelly at Happy Hollow Homestead for the idea of using the tub as a duck pond!

I'll post pictures as we get it done.  There's some bad weather headed this way that's gonna slow us down for a couple of days...but I hope to have this project done by the end of the weekend.