Pen Floor Material - My holy grail

[LemonDoodles]

A really wonderful gal on my pet duck yahoo group gave me the best advice. I had been scrubbing various boards and just could not find a good solution for floor substrate.

Until now: Behold...

All held in with 1x6 or 2x6 boards: Raise the boards an inch for drainage, add 5 inches of pea gravel, 2 inches of pine needles.

Easy on duck feet, no mold, a cinch to wash away poop. I could not be happier that I did this.

I have a 5 x 10 pen an it cost me about $75 but saved me tons of aggravation. The flies are gone, the dirt in the pool is gone, there is less of a chance that my boys will get sick eating poop. It actually smells nice.

Best. Solution. Ever.

SHOUT OUT TO KATHY! AND ZO FOR POINTING OUT THAT MY PRIOR SET UP SUCKED

 

[DonaldFan]

That sounds like a great set-up. My birds just live on unused hay from the horses. That way I don't waste any and when the birds are done w/it the dirty stuff goes in the compost. However, my set-up is rather messy since the hay likes to blow around so I don't recommend it unless you already have horses around.

 

[pbjmaker]

Could you post a picture of what you did? I'm more of a visual person.

 

[aineheartsyou]

Quote:
ditto

 

[SimplyMe_AngieD]

Well... we have a coop that is just 2x6 boards laid flat. But for floor covering, we have been raking up all the cut grass and premature dead leaves we can and dumping them in the coop. We have about 5 inches down currently in the coop and the run, and the chickies seem to love scratching around in them.

 

[Going Quackers]

Quote:
ditto

X3

 

[LemonDoodles]

I will get out there today and get photos - job hunting sure takes a ton of time

 

[LemonDoodles]

Corner with pine pulled up.

Admittedly I only did 3" of gravel to 2" of pine but only having 2 ducks it works for me.

 

[SimplyMe_AngieD]

Quote:
Your duck house is so cute!

 

[pbjmaker]

I LOVE your duck house! So cute! Thanks for getting us pictures and good luck finding a job!