Ideas to help clean and reduce smell of duck area?

Ok, long and short of it is... I am fosterig 14 ducks who were seized in a cruelty/neglect case locally for animal control. Their stipulations to foster them where that they need a separate, fenced area, that would keep them safe from predators and the like. This lasts for the duration of litigation (defendant pled not guilty)

Here's my issue-- that many ducks (many underfed, stunted growth, malformed legs, etc.) poop A LOT. I am having trouble maintaining their pen area... Would Diomatacious earth help? I think I read that somewhere. Are there any other safe and effective methods to help expedite the process to eliminate waste in their pen and reduce odors?

I haave sand in my pen and it works great for easy clean up. I rake out daily.

Good for you for providing a home for these neglected ducks.

Things start to get smelly when you get poop + water + lack of oxygen. If you remove any one of those conditions the smell will reduce - i.e. removing poop, removing water, and adding oxygen. One way of reducing water (i.e. improving drainage) is to dump a massive load of free-draining mulch in the pen. I find that rice hulls are excellent. If you can't get those, then a massive heap of organic matter will do - mulch, leaves, chopped straw, wood shavings....To add oxygen mix the mulch around a bit with a hoe each day. Basically, think of it as a big compost heap that you need to turn a bit and add organic matter to. Adding garden lime or dolomite will also help with the smell as smell thrives in acidic conditions and garden lime will reduce acidity. Sprinkle a generous amount over the surface and rake it in. You can leave all this mulch in there to break down for months, as long as you turn over the poopy areas daily.

Another option, suggested by skylarms, is to add a deep layer of sand and pooper scoop it. I used that approach in my pens for about a year and it worked well. Recently I have added a layer of mulch above the sand - I still have all the sand underneath and because of the sand it drains extremely well: less water = less smell. I turn over the poopy areas of mulch daily.

It also might help to think about how you are providing water to them and whether this is contributing to the slush and whether there is a better way e.g. waterer on a platform filled with pea gravel.. How are you providing them with water at the moment?

They have a pan full of water, and a large kids swimming pool. We live in a VERY rainy part of the world (temperate rainforest, 180 inches of rain a year) and so reducing water is probably going to be the hardest option of mine....

We are in FL, high rain, high humidity, high heat.


We have little to no smell because we do as 70% suggested. Bedding in houses are turned over daily, runs are raked, pools are cleaned daily, lime and or stall dry are used as needed

We have 70+ ducks at times and with this system there is no smell. We get a smell when it rains for days and we can't get out to clean. Once it stops we dig in and dry it out and start again.

I only have four ducks but we controlled the mess problem mainly by separating their food and water areas. We used to have waterers right next to their feed platform and it was a huge mess. Now we give them a bucket of water and their "pond". We keep a layer of straw down and sprinkle more straw over the poopy areas daily. When it all gets about 6-8 inches deep we move it all to the compost pile and start over with a new layer of straw. So far the only area that gets poopy is around their water dish and food platform. The rest of their pen tends to stay a lot cleaner even around their pond.

erinszoo does bring up a valid point. While the poo smells terrible, the wet food smells much, much worse. Also, I find the wet food brings far more flies than just the poo. We have sand around their coops which does help a lot.

Inside the coops, we used cement stepping stones on the floor, which are then covered with good clean hay. The chickens go in daily and turn the bedding. I find that during the summer I have to replace the bedding in the coops every 4-5 days. I spray the floor with an oxine/water solution in a pump style garden sprayer after removing the bedding, let it dry, then put in the fresh bedding.

The barn lime also helps to cut down the smell. The DE may help, but I am not sure if it will do enough for the amount of moisture you have going on. Good luck and well done fostering the ducks! I hope they all find good homes.

Oh, it rains incessantly... I've been to FL, you haven't seen rain until you've lived here, hahaha... I'm afraid straw and hay just soaks and rots... I like your stone/cement flooring... That would be easy to hose off and clean.... I may have to ask the humane society if they're willing to help go in on costs for that...! For now, I'll try the straw option, and turn it daily, see what happens...

As far as disposing of soiled bed, has anyone burned the soiled hay... Does it smoke much? LOL

Straw can be a pain to turn, because you are dealing with long fibres. I have found that it works best to have something with short fibres - chopped straw, sugar cane mulch, woodchips, wood shavings, leaves...anything at all made out of chopped up, dried plant material.

I'd be a bit careful about making the whole floor concrete or paved - that will lead to foot problems (ulcers) fairly quickly. Paving just the area around their waterer and/or food works though. You can then hose off those areas (the downside being that the poopy water has to go somewhere...e.g. onto a veggie garden or fruit trees or something via some kind of drain).

What did you think of the sand idea? No hosing needed (the rain will wash it for you), no digging required, no foot problems and no dealing with used mulch. You do need to build a 'frame' round the edge of the coop/run to hold the sand in. I'd recommend a layer about third to half a foot deep.

Look into coir. It has some fiber strength and drains better than straw. One person on the forum fussed at me about it saying it is too high in salt content, but we have not had any problems with it. I use it with straw. I found sawdust packs down and goes anaerobic. Not good for odor control

Also, around the swim pans, I found dried oak leaves neutralize much of the aroma.