Ammonia

[Musolff2015]

What can i do about ammonia bedding during winter (northern Wisconsin)???? They say if we can smell it, its bad for their health. This is my 1st winter with ducks. I chose the deep litter method and at the latest possible for me to start it (weather decided) i cleaned the coop good and laid a layer of demetrius and pine shavings. I added just enough to keep them dry daily. Then we started having 30° temperature swings (mid 30s to single or negative) in which i would add an inch or 2 of straw on cold nights with the occasional demitrious and shavings mix. It was working great until 1 of my girls started laying and burrying deep..... now im having to disturb the bedding and stir the back 1' of an 8' coop which is creating a strong ammonia odor. I have no clue how to fix the issue. Cleaning the coop is not an option as the bottom 6+" is froze solid and with 2' of snow i have nowhere to go with it if cleaning was an option. The 6ish" of straw on top is froze but not a packed solid like the rest and its as dry as it could be and by no means nasty dirty, eggs are spotless white.

 

[CanadaEh]

make sure they don't spill any water into the bedding. The goal is to have enough dry material in the bedding to extract all moisture from their poop on above freezing days. Dry or frozen poop = no ammonia smell. That said this is how it works for us with chickens, we don't have ducks.

 

[Jlw0903]

Because ducks have such wet poop I just change out their straw every week or two depending on how damp it gets I'm in south east Wisconsin.

There are products (coop and compost) that you can spray or sprinkle on that supposedly helps reduce the odor and ammonia.

I've heard mixed reviews about deep litter for ducks and just decided I'd deal with cleaning it out frequently. I hope someone has better advice than me...

 

[CoriM]

PDZ sweet works great for drying up the poops and keeping down the ammonia smell.

 

[Musolff2015]

make sure they don't spill any water into the bedding. The goal is to have enough dry material in the bedding to extract all moisture from their poop on above freezing days. Dry or frozen poop = no ammonia smell. That said this is how it works for us with chickens, we don't have ducks.

The water bucket is on duraslat flooring so it falls thru the grates. I have an L shaped coop with the large part bedding and the other duraslat where the water, human door. And unfortunately its been below freezing with maybe a week or 2 total of days slightly above since the beginning of october. I anticipated i wouldnt have an issue as far as ammonia, bugs, mold, etc and just have nasty, lengthy clean up as soon as it thaws

 

[Mandrogora]

The straw on top definitely shouldn't be freezing. It sounds like there is too much moisture. With the deep litter method you should be turning the bedding daily before adding a new layer. This introduces oxygen which will reduce ammonia build up. That being said, I haven't had good results with deep litter method and my ducks. I clean poops daily, let the chickens turn the straw and add a fresh layer but usually by two weeks too much moisture has worked it's way into the bedding and it needs to be changed completely. If I were you I would figure out a way to do a complete clean out.

 

[Musolff2015]

Because ducks have such wet poop I just change out their straw every week or two depending on how damp it gets I'm in south east Wisconsin.

There are products (coop and compost) that you can spray or sprinkle on that supposedly helps reduce the odor and ammonia.

I've heard mixed reviews about deep litter for ducks and just decided I'd deal with cleaning it out frequently. I hope someone has better advice than me...

I wanted to clean it out regularly, but decided deep litter was best for warmth and not having anywhere to go with it during winter. It actually hasnt been damp at all with how cold it has been which is what confuses me with the smell the most.

 

[Musolff2015]

PDZ sweet works great for drying up the poops and keeping down the ammonia smell.

Isnt demetrius the same as pdz? It dries up extremely well. I used it in the sand run before we hit freezing and it kept it like sand instead and dried the poop on top for easy cleanup even with the pool being in there

 

[EggSighted4Life]

They say if we can smell it, its bad for their health.

The sweet PDZ works miracles when needed!

Usually found in the equine section.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Make sure that there is enough air circulating through your duck-house. Ducks have no problems with freezing temperatures (muscovies do to some extend), if they are dry and protected from the winds (no drafts) they are warm and happy.
Open everything during the day, doors, windows and ventilation flaps and let the air circulate.