Need help with my stinky pen

[aladore]

I have four ducks and three dogs. I do not let them out in the back yard together. My ducks free range when ever my dogs are in the house. Usually four to five hours a day. My question is. My lovely neighbors do not like animals. Don't understand why. I'm getting some stink from the pen. I clean it out every other day. My question is when my ducks free range I put wate and food out for them also besides everything on the grass. Do I have to put water and food in the pen when I lock them back in when my dogs are out? My hay gets so wet and I'm thinking this is a big problem with the smell. I just don't want to starve them > Please help me out. I'm not losing my pets.

 

[chickens really]

Get rid of the straw/hay in the pen.....I use pebbles and sidewalk blocks I can hose off when needed......Ducks stink......Only pine shavings in their house are needed..

 

[mlh328]

I use straw in my duck house. I make sure to turn it every morning with a pitchfork and I leave the door open so it airs out. I don't need to clean mine out nearly that often. I do not have food or water in with them but I have a gate separating the front and back yard so they can be out all day without my dogs bothering them. Maybe check out Sweet PDZ. It's a stall freshener that lots of people use for their duck houses. I would leave food and water in with them if they are in the house for that long. I've seen people make watering stations using half of a dog crate to keep the water from getting all over, I think they put horse stall pellets in to absorb.

 

[Amiga]

Generally, foul odors are caused in part by a lack of oxygen. Wet bedding lacks oxygen.

My ducks, by the way, do not stink.

I have my pen on a 2% slope so that water flows slowly off. I use chopped straw in the bottom of the pen, and smooth pea gravel under the swim pans. The soil absorbs water, and extra water flows off and into a garden bed.

If it is rainy where you are, I would put a cover over the pen and again direct the runoff away from the pen, into a garden or mulch area.

Sometimes people realize that their pens are shaped like shallow bowls that hold water. That can cause problems.