I'm quite new to the backyard poultry and needing some suggestions. I'm looking to getting some ducklings(Pekin and WH) this Spring and eventually adding each pair of mandarin and wood ducks to the frock. As of now the area I plan to house them is bare dirt that sit right behind the shed with roofing. Since the structure already exist I plan to enclose the area off with hardwire cloth and add the door into the frame so I can go into-n-out off coop My concern is the whole area is sitting on top of bare dirt and I'm not sure of the drainage there. We partially dig into the dirt and its quite soft. My plan is to cover the area with landscape fabric and lay pea gravel with sand mixture, hoping that this will help ease the cleaning and smell control that the ducks can make. Also, the area does not receiving a lot of sunlight, should I be worry about the humidity build-up from the ducks and hosing the area down for cleaning? I plan to create a raise platform and have kiddie pool place there. Not sure what kind of housing do mandarin and wood ducks will require. I plan to do a simple housing that sits low to the ground for the pekin and the WH since I don't want them to be too high off from the ground and risk falling. Will this concept work for the mandarin and wood ducks or do I need to elevate it since they are flighty? Any recommendation is appreciated! Thanks!
