Duck/Quail Houses + Landscaping

We've been focusing a lot of time on our landscaping at home this year. We've completed 80% of the river rock landscaping and a nice fire pit area for hanging out which has been all nice additions.

Next on the list was completing the duck/quail pen area. There were a couple of problems we faced in this area that I wanted to resolve. One: this area always stinks from the bird poo/mud. Two: with it being such a high traffic area for walking, the grass never grows here and becomes slick/sloppy from the hillside after it rains. 

To resolve these problems, the goal was to put a pebble path to keep things clean and to put stone in the pens to resolve the stinky, muddy mess. I levelled out the ground and we created a ditch on the back end to help with flooding in the pens.

With the pens higher up, the rainwater doesn't get into the pens like it used to. I planted shade-loving perennials like this Big Blue Liriope beside the duck pens. It reminded me of Lavender and since it has beautiful blooms in the spring/summer, I couldn't pass it up.

 A boxwood was planted in between the pens to break up the views and I laid a white pebble path stone up top beside the pens.

I am happy to now have a stone walkway through this area that leads back to the stone fire pit area. This area stays cleaner now and I don't have to worry about slipping on the mud while going to go have my morning coffee.

Even the ducks are happier in a large pen outside (instead of pooping on my deck, haha)! I feel better about these revised pens that are preditor proof too. We added wire fencing to the bottom of the pen and laid small paver stones on the inside so there was better drainage and it was easier to clean. Laying these pavers inside though also helped with peace of mind knowing nothing could get through the fencing and pavers. Safe pens = safe animals.

 I painted the pens (that were originally red) to a dirty cream/green to match our screened-in porch. Everything looks like it belongs to the house and looks so much better. The quails are happy. The ducks are happy. Alyssa is happy.

What do you think of the duck/quail pen area?!

Hugs, Alyssa