I had previously kept my ducks separate from my chickens, but a raccoon convinced me to consolidate all into a much larger, more secure coop. But this left me with the duck pen, which was a couple of cattle panels that formed a vault, and the cattle panels were covered in hardware cloth. The floor was also covered in hardware cloth, and this made moving this thing impossible. It was an eyesore.
So I decided to figure out a way to re-purpose the duck pen into a buck pen. I covered the exterior with a white vinyl tarp. That was then covered with a loose nap burlap. Over that, I put a slip coat of a 1 part water/1 part acrylic cement bonding adhesive and a similar amount of portland cement. A day later, I put on a layer of 1 part water, 1 part acrylic, 1 part cement and 1 part sand. I found this was not adhering well , particularly since much of the structure was vertical or nearly so. So I increased the sand and portland content to 2 parts portland and 3 parts sand. This worked much better. On went another 3 layers of that. Then another final layer like the first, followed by a white tinted water proofing latex.
The hardware cloth floor is now covered with a combination of pavers that were already in the pen and sand, and that is covered by stall mats. The space is 8'x8' inside. Three sides are covered with the cement mix. One side is open and is strictly hardware cloth and a couple of doors. These will stay as is 3 seasons. During the dead of winter, much of that side will be covered in greenhouse plastic.
Because of where the pen is positioned relative to the poultry run, the bucks will not have access to the exterior of their pen, except the side where it is open, and that side faces east.
In the first photo, it is the structure on the left.
