I'm sick of cleanin duck house daily. What do you do?

[Jody]

I have a pair of Welsh Halequin ducklings.. Got them when they were about a week old. Now, I suppose they're 5wks, and my do they grow so fast. I could no longer keep them caged in the house, so now they spend the night inside a large dog house outside and free range in the fenced off section during the day.

At night, I close the wire cage door that I put on the dog house so they're not outside at night to become food to any would be predators, but I'm sick of having to clean it daily.. they're messy and always make the shavings or straw so soaking wet.. Is it always gonna be like this? My call duck has her own little house, but she gets to come out at night of her own free will cause her house has a small fence around it.. cause she's blind and I don't want her to get lost.. I was gonna house these 2 with her, but they attack her...

When they grow more, I'm hoping I can keep their water outside and not have to lock them in the doghouse. Building a closed up run is not an option.. I have 2 chicken coops, 2 duck houses and the barn for the goats all fenced off together and these animals all free range together during the day.. at night, everyone goes into their homes and the doors shut, but once the goats grow more and are fully weaned, I'm gonna allow them free range at night so they can keep the ducks company.. I'd do that now, but my wife keeps putting them inside cause she says they bleat earlier in the morning when they can come outside on their own..

Anyway, what do you use for duckling bedding? How often do you clean their house and change bedding? My call duck's bedding is never wet.. hardly no waste in there at all either.. I cleaned it once in the last few weeks.. I think she goes outside to poop, lol.. plus her water bowl is outside near the entrance.

How old would my ducklings have to be before they can free range at night, or sleep wherever they want? I've not once seen them go into their house on their own, so don't know if they would at night or not.. I know my call duck on several occasions has slept outside near her little house, but she does go inside when she wants to.

Anyway, it's not such a bother to have to rake out the wet poopy straw every day and shovel it over the fence then pick it up and carry it to the compost pile, but shavings and straw cost money and the ducks use up so much of it..... actually, yes it can be inconvenient at times.. but I can't let the ducks lay and sleep in a wet environment, which kind of makes me wonder.. don't ducks in the wild live in wet conditions, or not? I'm dreading when I dig up the hole for the kiddie pool to make them a pond.. I bet that's gonna be a pain to clean all the time.

 

[Amiga]

At five weeks of age, I would not have them much less than 70 degrees F, in or out, especially outside, where it is often damp.

Try to bear with it another week, then keep their water and feed outside their night shelter. That will help quite a bit. Some ducklings are just a bit of work at first, it is not forever.

 

[Brickman House]

At five weeks old, they are definitely old enough to not have food and water at night.

Clean out the dog crate, bed it with fresh pine shavings, put their food and water out in the run, and breathe a sigh of relief. Your life just got MUCH easier, and your ducklings will be just fine!

If it's me, I would also remove the heat lamp at this point. In a small house like a dog crate, if it's well bedded, they'll do just fine with nighttime temps in the 70's.

 

[ChickenToes]

No food and water at night - my coop has wood floors and it would be destroyed in 6 months if I put water in there.

If you're worried about them getting cold at night, hang a lamp in there and only turn it on at night. They're probably fine with temps in the 70s, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

In the coop, I use the deep litter method. I put 4 to 6 inches of wood shavings in the coop and stir it around every day to dry up the wetness. Every 3 weeks or so I add about 2 cups of DE (diatomaceous earth) to the shavings and stir it around, it helps to kill bugs and dry things up. Once a month I add another inch or 2 of shavings. I only completely clean the coop twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring.

 

[nettie]

Instead of DE I use a product called "Sweet PDZ" (also known as "Stall Dry") to freshen up my duck pen. Cleaning duck pens is a big deal since my ducks live in the third bedroom of my town house. Keeping smells at bay is a daily ritual, but it's mostly upkeep, rather than shoveling. (also this is for adult ducks, but at 5 weeks, they are close)

Every 4 weeks or so, I completely change the bedding, (which is horse stall wood pellets, like Equine Pine). After I place a thin layer of wood pellets down, I use a big cup to sprinkle the PDZ over the pellets. If I am running low on pellets, I will spritz the pellets with water, which makes them expand a little, before i put on the PDZ.

Everyday I check the room when I go to visit them and play with them. I have a fan in there to keep the air moving. I set up a cheap air purifier (one that uses a charcoal filter) which helps suck up smells. I check the pen over and replace area's bedding where needed. They tend to hang out in certain spots, so I scoop those areas out more often. If the bedding looks okay, I'll just sprinkle some more PDZ, and/or put down more pellets. Sometimes it helps to fluff up the bedding too. If I see any big poops or a collection of poop, I scoop it out (kind of like cat litter). If I can't get to the poopy area without getting completely covered or without having to shovel everything out, I sprinkle more PDZ to cover the poop. IF poop is dry, it doesn't smell. The PDZ comes in granules or powder, I use the granules (not as much dust, but it's still very dusty). By spot cleaning, I save on bedding and time cleaning. I typically do this when the ducks are not in their pen (like when they go outside or to the tub) since it is dusty, and my mini shovel tends to freak them out royally.

I'll also buy baking soda, the kind meant for the freezer or fridge, open up the sides like you are supposed to on the package, and place them around the room where the ducks can't get to them. The baking soda helps suck up bas smells as well. I out out 2-3 new ones each month, and every 2-3 months I throw away the oldest ones. I'll also use an odor killer air freshener called "Odor Killer" by "Renuizit." It doesn't have a smell, but seems to keep the air fresher.

I plan on writing this down and maybe even documenting it with photos for my website, once out new pen is done.... We're waiting for a reply from yet another contractor as to whether or not he will build our new duck pen. Right now they are living in a series of smaller pens I have connected together (using my McGyver skills, lol)... Their new pen will be much easier to clean/keep clean. I can't wait for that... I even designed a "chimney" that pipes the fresh air coming in from the vents directly in the pen.

Oh wanted to add- My ducks get food and water all the time... I keep their food and water on a metal mesh floor, with pans underneath to catch drippings. I put bedding and PDZ into the pans to help absorb whatever falls in there. I clean the pans out (by dumping into the garbage, and wiping down with peroxide or bleach water) once a week. This helps cut down mess and smells GREATLY. If you can work a metal mesh into your design (even if just for the food and water) so you can put pans underneath, it's worth it! My food and water area are on a second "floor" so I can access the pans easier. The ducks walk up a ramp to get to the food.

 

[needlessjunk]

Well I to I'm getting frustrated having to clean this 4' x 3' Duck house raise off the ground, it's inside a enclosed pen. The floor is wood slats. I lay two large garbage bags down then two large rubber shelving mats, so they don't slip and then straw. When I clean which is every other day it's totally poopy and I only have two magpie ducks. I roll it all up dump the straw in a wheel barrel and rinse off the garbage bags and the rubber mats and hang to dry. I have a second set of bags and rubber mats to change out. I rinse the floor out with a hose cause they do get poop on the sides of the inside of the house. I can not picture doing this in the winter! There's has to be a easier way! Any good idea's anybody???

What about putting horse stall mats down to cover the slats and use shavings or straw. I use pine shavings and just pick out the dirty spots daily, turn it all over and add more shavings as needed. I only clean it out completely once a month maybe longer. Do you have food and water in the coop. If so I would take it out.

 

[needlessjunk]

No I don't keep the water or food in there duck house. Stall mats for a 4' x 4' floor I think was 30.00 I will have to look it back up again good idea on that and the pine shavings too sounds easier then to pick out the poop with straw. But I have herd something about pine shaving and the dust the ducks will breath and cause repertory problems?? How old are your ducks?

I use pine shaving from 3 days on and my current ducks are 16 weeks, 6 months and one is just under a year. I buy the larger flake shavings and haven't found them to be too bad as far as dust goes. Another option instead of stall mats would be to make a solid food with plywood and seal/paint it. My floors are painted with a gritty deck paint so now one slips and we have some leftover.

 

[DucksAndGardens]

Reber Ranch in Kent carries DE.

I also suggest removing water at night. My ducklings are only 3 weeks old but I remove the water at night because they tend to play in it more than drink it and since I remove their feed they don't really need the water. Mine are in the house on shavings but no heat lamp now (except for one sickly duckling). I have a wire raised platform that I set their water on, and I put a dish under that to catch the water but I still have to clean up the shavings around the water every day but their "pen" is a 4X4 so the rest of the bedding stays pretty dry. I take a small rake and rake the top layer off every morning and every evening and then add more as needed for the dry areas. As long as the bedding is deep you can just remove the top poop layer. I take their water and food out at 9pm and then they are fine until I get up at 6am. Their bedding dries out overnight if it was damp because of where I have their pen. Since yours are outside you could easily just leave their food and water outside overnight. Then the only thing you would have to do is rake the top layer of shavings off to clean up their poop and the bedding underneath should be pretty dry.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

At about 6 weeks I started keeping my 4 peking ducks in a 4x4 16 square foot night house. I stopped giving them water at night and the bedding at two weeks was still dry. Keep in mind I live in the derst and any moisture drys right up. I rake the bedding every other day and and today I cleaned it out after ab out two weeks and replaced it with some new hay. Advantage to the desert I guesse is that duck poop dries out in one day. I suggest you try deep litter and if they are 6-7 weeks and it is less than 80 degrees at night keeping them in a predator proof duck house always at night.

 

[Jody]

Actually, it is less than 80 at night. Are they too young to be without their heat lamp?