2nd round of bumblefoot

[Corinne23]

My 2 khakis have bumblefoot for the 2nd time in 2 months. My husband flipped the boards in their run we put them back out and my 4 Perkins that are 6 weeks old. Well that didn’t help and we have another bumblefoot outbreak with my 2 khakis and 2 of the pekins. I spent 3 hours ripping the boards out of the run yesterday and put bedding down to do the deep litter method. I put deck treks under their pond for now to keep them from getting too muddy. But we have a big mud problem where they are. Is there anyway I could prevent the mud? How can I prevent future outbreaks like this? I feel so bad for my babies thankfully I caught it in the very early stages this time because I check their feet every night.

 

[ruthhope]

I doubt that you can prevent mud -- ducks, water and mud all go together. If the water doesn't drain well, you might think about digging a french drain to reduce waterlogging. But I live on very sandy soil, so I am nto the best person to advise!

Can you take a photograph or two and show us the layout of your set up. I am a little confused by boards in the run -- boards in the bottom of the coop/duck house I understand. You might try cheap vinyl over the boards and certainly use deep litter in the duck house

 

[ChicksnMore]

When I built my ducks home, I did some digging so that there's a mild slant down on one end. Then I made the ducks pond on that low end. It has a slight slant as well...just enough so that water drains out the back of the pen and waters the plants growing outside the pen. It doesn't look at all slanted...but it's working great for me. Their runs actually staying completely dry and mud free even though they spend most of their time splashing or sleeping in their little pond.
It doesn't take much of a slant to drain well and if your pen sides are built level, it doesn't show at all.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I had issues with some of the worst bumblefoot I've ever seen. What helped was getting rid of rocks. The mud wasn't the problem. It was the sharp little rocks that was just under the surface. I now go out once a week and pick up as many little rocks as I can find. I also switched substrate to pelleted horse bedding. And, to make things even more difficult, I also slather their feet with lanolin every few days to keep them soft and prevent cracking. Now bumblefoot hasn't happened again. So far.

It sounds like you are narrowing down what the cause is. The trex sounds like a good idea. As for mud, you might try the horse bedding. It turns to sawdust when it gets wet. I poured it into the puddles when our property flooded last year. Soaked it all up.

 

[Corinne23]

I doubt that you can prevent mud -- ducks, water and mud all go together. If the water doesn't drain well, you might think about digging a french drain to reduce waterlogging. But I live on very sandy soil, so I am nto the best person to advise!

Can you take a photograph or two and show us the layout of your set up. I am a little confused by boards in the run -- boards in the bottom of the coop/duck house I understand. You might try cheap vinyl over the boards and certainly use deep litter in the duck house

I doubt that you can prevent mud -- ducks, water and mud all go together. If the water doesn't drain well, you might think about digging a french drain to reduce waterlogging. But I live on very sandy soil, so I am nto the best person to advise!

Can you take a photograph or two and show us the layout of your set up. I am a little confused by boards in the run -- boards in the bottom of the coop/duck house I understand. You might try cheap vinyl over the boards and certainly use deep litter in the duck house

This is what I did to their run on Saturday a few hours later it’s a muddy mess from the water. My yard isn’t level so all the water kind of pools in there towards the front. I do my best throughout the week to pump or pull it out but sometimes it’s useless. I also added a picture of the aftermath of the day before I cleaned it out

 

[Corinne23]

I had issues with some of the worst bumblefoot I've ever seen. What helped was getting rid of rocks. The mud wasn't the problem. It was the sharp little rocks that was just under the surface. I now go out once a week and pick up as many little rocks as I can find. I also switched substrate to pelleted horse bedding. And, to make things even more difficult, I also slather their feet with lanolin every few days to keep them soft and prevent cracking. Now bumblefoot hasn't happened again. So far.

It sounds like you are narrowing down what the cause is. The trex sounds like a good idea. As for mud, you might try the horse bedding. It turns to sawdust when it gets wet. I poured it into the puddles when our property flooded last year. Soaked it all up.

Thank you! I am going to tractor supply tomorrow I will grab horse bedding because they make a huge mess with the
Mud and water. I’ve been cleaning out their pond up to 6 times a day and I never had to do it that much

 

[Aunt Angus]

Thank you! I am going to tractor supply tomorrow I will grab horse bedding because they make a huge mess with the
Mud and water. I’ve been cleaning out their pond up to 6 times a day and I never had to do it that much

Holy moly! 6 times a day! I'd be going crazy! I really hope the horse bedding works for you. I love it. For around the duckie buckets, I just put the pellets. In "drier" areas, I actually add water to the pellets to turn them into sawdust. It's super soft on their feet and smells great!

But if you experiment with it and find tricks that work for you, be sure to share. I'm always looking for ways to keep my birds' run cleaner!

 

[ChicksnMore]

This is what I did to their run on Saturday a few hours later it’s a muddy mess from the water. My yard isn’t level so all the water kind of pools in there towards the front. I do my best throughout the week to pump or pull it out but sometimes it’s useless. I also added a picture of the aftermath of the day before I cleaned it out

Here's some pictures of my holding pen for ducks. Sorry it's so messy! But what I did was build a brick square with bricks in one corner to set the water bowl on. The water mess all goes down into the hollow bricks and the rest of the pen is filled with deep bedding and stays dry.
This is the whole pen with the ducks we're getting rid of. They'll only be in here til this evening.

This is a close up of the water bowl corner.

And a close up of the safety pads pulled back. The drain holes need cleaned out at the moment.

If you can give your ducks a larger water bowl and area it becomes easy. With a big enough mini pond, they actually spend most of their time in the water...which keeps their feet healthy. Add some plants and little minnow type fish (I use mosquito fish) and water changes can be spread way out.

Here's a pic of my keeper ducks run. This is the one with a slight slant so water drains out the back.

Which I now know I need to clean of rocks better! My ducks say thanks Agnus!
I top off their water daily, but I don't need to drain and refill it often and theres a drain plug at the base to make it easy. I also set it up at the base of a huge tree, so when I do need to drain it the water isn't wasted...it keeps my tree healthy. I know when it needs cleaned because they start drinking out of their little water bowl that gets ignored most of the time. It's needing cleaned about once a month with 4 ducks. They even sleep floating in the water.
I do have to replace plants and fish weekly. The plants are stuck into a planter and create a tiny island they can climb out on. The plants are pretty well destroyed right now...lol.
I don't know if your ducks are holding pen ducks or keeper ducks...but creating drainage is really the key.

 

[ChicksnMore]

O...in the holding pen...the straw area has no bricks...it's all bedding. The bricks are only under the wall and water bowl.