Monday, June 7, 2010

Plans to Build a Mallard Bird House



If you got a small farm or simply a plan of water and would love to keep Mallard ducks around, they are going to need a place to be protected from predators and you are going to need plans to build a Mallard bird house.

 Here is a simple ideas to help you build a great duck house of their own and to provide them with the peaceful environment they need to nest and reproduce.



Build a Floating Platform

Protecting the ducks from predators is the main goal of building them a nesting house. Raccoons love to eat the eggs and they will find ways to get them. If you have a pond, a floating house is a great option to provide them a safe place to nest.

Use a sheet of thick Styrofoam and cut it in a half. This will be great to keep the nesting house floating. Join the two pieces of Styrofoam together with 2 pieces of 2x4 or simple boards, leaving a space in between them. Once you have a solid foundation for the floating house, build a platform over the Styrofoam with wood boards. Make sure not to use pressure treated wood, which is bad for the environment.

Build a House to Put on Top

It will be much better not to have the duck house sitting right on top of the platform. The Mallard house needs to be elevated a little, this is good for a floating house as well as a house on solid ground. This is necessary to protect the nest from getting wet from the rain and the possible waves of water coming on the platform on windy days. For houses on the ground, the possible variations of water elevation in the pound may flood the duck house after a big rain storm so you need to keep that in mind.

I strongly recommend to use plans to build a mallard bird house to help you doing this project. This is my favorite source for woodworking plans, and it includes over 16,000 different ones.
TedsWoodworking Plans and Projects


How to Build a Mallard Nesting House

To build a nest for the ducks, get a piece of plastic covered fencing that has about tree feet high by 5 feet long. Cover it with some straw hay and roll it like a cylinder of about 12 to 15 inches. Roll it completely and attach to fence together to make it stay tight. Thigh wraps will do the trick. Install the nest on the floating platform giving it an elevation of about twelve to fifteen inches.


You can do that by installing two pieces of wood across the platform. Them build a roof by using two pieces of plywood and installing them on the top of the nest forming a triangle shape all the way to the platform.

Make sure the roof is longer than the nesting tube to provide protection at the entrance and the exit of the tube. This is a very basic design but that will make the Mallards happy and a will be a safe place to lay their eggs. You can find other ideas to make a more stylish Mallard house and still make it with materials you may already have at home.




So weather you choose to build a nesting house or a floating one,
building a Mallard bird house to be installed on your property will have beneficial effects for the mallard population and for you to enjoy their presence !

I just found great Delta WaterFowl's Videos about how to build nesting tubes for ducks. Check em out!









22 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Cool article. I never thought about building a mallard bird house, but they really are noble animal. I'm glad you are doing your part for the environment :D.

    Growing Parsley

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  3. Nice - add it to my list of projects...

    Joe
    Weber Genesis E320

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  4. Thanks for the article.

    Rob @ http://naturalhistorybookshelf.com

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  5. Nice article... thanks for sharing the article.

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  6. Online Pharmacy
    Thanks very nice info, You made it easy for me.

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  7. Great article. My grandma keeps ducks in her pond and has a barn they go into at night.

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  8. Nice tips especially for travelers and animal lovers. A floating bird house would be great for birds. New atmosphere and a perfect location.

    A wise traveler never despises his own country. Carlo Goldoni
    Travel Jobs

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. Nice info, thanks a lot.
    Sam
    http://www.zeuscreative.co.uk

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  11. wow amazing!
    thank you for sharing this article








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  12. I really enjoyed your article because I get visits from Mallard and other ducks at my place on lake Wendouree.

    I just bought a set of binoculars on http://www.camp-hunt-shoot.com and can't wait for them to arrive so I can start seeing them right up close. :o)

    Kate

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  13. this article is very interesting, thank you very much to post it. I hope to read other articles about this topic soon.

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  14. I really enjoyed your article because I get visits from Mallard and other ducks at my place on lake Wendouree.

    I just bought a set of binoculars on Best Instant Tents and can't wait for them to arrive so I can start seeing them right up close. :o)

    Kate

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  15. I really enjoyed your article because I get visits from Mallard and other ducks at my place on lake Wendouree.

    I just bought a set of binoculars on Best Bird Cages and can't wait for them to arrive so I can start seeing them right up close. :o)

    Kate

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  16. This is a great step-by-step article and guide for the building of bird houses. Thank you. We don't have mallards where we live, but we do have Red-knobbed coots which are like ducks, and they live in the same environment, so this will help.

    ReplyDelete