Duck/Waterfowl Runs/Pens

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Wolf-Kim

Wolf-Kim

Songster
11 Years
12 Years
Jan 25, 2008
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(I know this is similar to the chicken thread, but I can see distinct differences in the flooring needs of waterfowl and landfowl. Thanks)


Okay, so we all know that our webbed footed friends love to make a mess. Love to strew their food about and profusely water every inch they come in contact with. This turns pens to mud and feed into fly magnets. I have seen several duck pens, but every single one has been a mud pit.

How to prevent this problem? I know it can be prevented by using wire cages, but I like my waterfowl on the ground. I was thinking about using gravel, then maying a layer of course sand and maybe, just maybe a finishing laying of topsoil(for any possible plant life. LOL).

Pictures and advice would be nice! If I am going to build pens for my webbed footed friends, I want it done right the first time! LOL In the meantime, my ducky friends will roam several acres and not have the opportunity to create a mud pit.
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-Kim
 
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Hmmm.... My duck pen is not a mud pit. I'm really not sure why. It had vegetation growing in it to begin with, grass and weeds, etc. I only have 3 ducks (muscovies), so maybe that has something to do with it. It's not even a big pen, maybe 13X25. Here is a picture:

100_2026.jpg
 
Wait! I had an idea.

My pen is on a slight slope. So excess water runs off of it. If you had an area that was sloped, maybe you could build your pens there, and avoid some muddiness that way.

That's the best idea I have for why my pen isn't muddy. Because my birds do take lots of baths, and when I refill their little pool, I just dump it right there, and the water runs out of the pen.

I'm so goofy I didn't even know that muddy pens might be a problem. HA!
 
I set up my pen in an already grassy area, which is only wearing down is the well used area by the entry gate, and where I stand to clean out the duck house. I am thinking of putting a few pavers there. The pool is on a bed of straw. Aso on that bed is a little raised shelter for their food bowls and another bucket of water. The straw is second hand from cleaning out the duck house. I hose the poop down a little most days, and drain the water from the pool with a hose to another area of the yard. When I was dumping it on the straw it started to get soggy and it think I noticed some more flys accumulating. So I spread around some DE and was careful not to dump much there after that. Seems a lot better. Some day I will take off the top layer of straw and use the decomposing stuff underneath for the garden.
 
Oh okay. So I guess it comes down to how many ducks in the space. I can see how a slope would help and how not dumping their bath water in their pen would really help. I just know that flies seem to be attracted to the wetness(and obviously dirtiness) of a pen. I hope to have several breed of ducks one day, but to do that they would have to be in pens to insure the pureness of their offspring. I just didn't want a mudpit with a bunch of dirty ducks in it. They may really enjoy it, but I sure don't!

-Kim
 
Quote:
I think this question may have been for me...

I have an old concrete mixing pan that my husband used to use on jobsites. It's smaller than I would like, holds about 20 gallons of water.

I do plan to buy a kiddie pool for them this summer, and I saw another thread on how to add a drain to one of those. Cool! That's what they need!
 
Lauraloo ... I can't tell by your pick but do you have a cover over your pen or is it open for the ducks to fly out?

I'm worried about the muddy mess as well but I think that my area might be large enough that it would take my 3 ducks a long time to turn into a mud pit
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