Building Delta Hen Houses | Delta Waterfowl
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The complete guide to building hen houses for ducks from Delta Waterfowl.
Delta Waterfowl puts more mallards into every fall flight!
Delta Waterfowl Hen Houses are the most cost-effective tool to increase mallard production. Targeted to areas of the highest mallard breeding density, Hen Houses consistently boost nest success to more than 60 percent and commonly to 80 percent in areas where ground-nesting mallards typically achieve nest success of less than 10 percent.
Delta Waterfowl’s research led to today’s efficiently designed “Supersites” — clusters of 100 or more Hen Houses installed in relatively small geographic areas with extremely high breeding mallard densities. Supersites send thousands of mallards into every fall flight while reducing the cost of labor and fuel to produce ducks.
Find the full list of materials, assembly, and installation instructions at https://deltawaterfowl.org/hen-houses/
Materials
Flax straw (1 50-pound square bale usually makes 5-7 tunnels)
Flax may not be available in your area, so substitute with the most durable grass or straw you can find. Wheat and barley straw is too light and doesn’t work well.
Grass hay for nesting material
Delta has had success with brome hay and other grasses. In Minnesota and South Dakota, flax has been used with success for both the exterior and nest material.
8-foot long base pipe (1.5” square tubing)
30-inch long adjustable insert pipe (1” square tubing)
18-inch long cradle support pipe (1” square tubing)
7’x3’ section of welded wire fencing (2” by 1” mesh with 14 gauge wire) – this is double rolled with flax to form the Hen House
Wire must be firm to prevent tunnel from bending (i.e., no “chicken wire”)
Two 20-inch lengths of ¼” steel rod, bent to form cradle
12 hog rings and 1 bolt or wire-lock pin to attach insert to post
https://deltawaterfowl.org/hen-houses/
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