I’m not technologically advanced in the slightest so even getting a quality file on here is a bit out of my scope. It’s about a minute long conversation from my security camera that I need cleaned up.
I am happy to compensate in whatever way and please just let me know how to put the file here or send it!
I sold my last form and had many different size turnouts all with a lane in between (No shared fence lines). This worked out well for horses that needed individual turnout, didn’t need to be out on huge open fields, etc. This new property is laid out more for personal use. It currently has four fields. Three of them are just under 5 acres, the fourth is about 3. The previous owner only had six horses on the property, I have nine (including a mare due next spring). The property is 30 acres, my previous farm was 34. There is an area that could be cleared to make the smaller pasture larger. And I’m thinking to change it into three slightly smaller fields instead of two ultra large. Playing with the idea of a couple of smaller turnouts to add into the mix (a few of mine and have hind shoes).
I would like to have Elaine that I could access the front of all of the fields from, for easy feeding for the outdoor horses
There’s a beautiful trail that the previous owner put in that goes around the perimeter of the property. The section that can be cleared would take out the forest buffer between the field and the trail. I don’t mind losing some of it, but I would like to leave a bit so it still feels like you’re riding through the forest as only two side sides have that feel in the rest is on the fence line.
This is still early days and I do plan to consult with an equestrian architect firm that does pasture management/layout, but wanted to throw it out there and see what ideas other others had!
Please only answer if you are educated and have experience in this topic!
I’m attaching a few different photos.
Please feel free to to mark up the images with any thoughts!
Please excuse my illustrator skills! I’m self taught, fairly new to it and traced the satellite images. Best I could!
We are hatching some Cayuga eggs for the first time. Not our first time raising ducklings, just our first hatch. We got 14 eggs figuring we’d probably lose a few… although my friend managing the farm while I’m out of town is hatching them, so naturally all 14 will probably hatch perfectly just to humble us.
We currently have a Cayuga and a Swedish blue that are about a year old and absolutely love them. RIP to our welsh harlequin. The plan is to keep most of the females and probably one or two drakes, ideally ending up with around 10 ducks total.
Here’s where we need help: when we first got ducks, a former employee massively overstated her duck knowledge and took the lead on designing the duck house. Turns out her main qualification was apparently “having once seen ducks at another property.” The structure is basically an ill-proportioned dog house with commitment issues.
The opening is too small for a human to comfortably get inside and clean it, there’s no practical way to retrieve eggs, and the ducks themselves don’t even like using it. They were originally trained to go inside at night, but once reintroduced to our pond they immediately decided the house was beneath them and now lay eggs randomly around the pond instead.
We’re scrapping the whole setup and starting over completely. We bought some plans on Etsy that seem decent, but maybe a bit small for what we want. Before we modify them, I wanted to ask people who actually know ducks efficiently:
- What are your “must-have” duck house features?
- Do ducks actually need nesting boxes?
- If we make the house appealing enough, is it realistic to expect them to start laying inside instead of all over the property?
- Any design mistakes people commonly make?
I’m more familiar with chickens, but we’ve really fallen in love with the ducks and want to set this up correctly this time instead of building another tiny duck panic room.
This is the link to the plans we bought on Etsy.
-Wondering if we can just double it in size?
- What else needs to be in here for it to be comfortable for the ducks?
I tried to find better pictures of the duck house. Having a hard time because it’s not coming up with any keywords and it’s been a while since I’ve photographed it. These are shitty pictures from the Kohn man ex-employee. I wish I had some from the side so you could see how disproportionate and squatty it is.