Are ducks messy?

[sanchabird]

I know they are messy as ducklings, but are they messy as adults? I have 4 chickens and I clean my chicken coop out every 2 weeks, but if I have to, I will do it once a week when I get the ducks. Are they messier than chickens? As in messier than pooping in the nesting boxes, on top of the boxes, and on the porch? I already know that the kiddie pool I was going to get them will be dumped and refilled daily.

 

[CrazyChookLady5]

yes ducks are very messy!!, more mssier that coooks

 

[TLWR]

I clean the duck house daily - just hose it out. So when we built the chicken house, we built it to be hosed out daily as well.
When it does get cold enough that the hose freezes, then I skip a few days.

Their nest box - I just add fresh pine straw on top if they've gone poop crazy in it - then dump, clean and refill as needed.

 

[AvianEgo]

Very messy. The consume so much water that their poop is soupy and squirts. It's hard to keep bedding dry and water should not be kept inside their sleeping area. They will just play and dabble in it all night. With that being said. I have 3 ducks that are housed with two chickens. It's a bit more work but the ducks have great qualities too...oooh and are they entertaining!

 

[Blooie]

yes ducks are very messy!!, more mssier that coooks

Oh, I don't know...my daughter has 24 Black East Indies living in her house - yes, her house - with her, her SO, and two rock doves named Nappy and - oh, I forget the hen's name.
.
Chester and Emma


Chester and and Emma with their toys.


Chester


Emma and some of this year's hatch peeking out from under her.


Some of last year's crew.

 

[Richb353]

I had 1/2" mesh at the bottom of my duck house, but the turds were not dropping through as I had planned. To fix the issue, I just pulled the mesh out and let the duck house sit on the grass. I put a couple wheels on one end of the duck house and move it like a heavy wheelbarrow about once a week so a new patch of grass gets fertilized. The 5' round by 1 foot deep kiddie pool gets changed over every few days with the two Cayugas I have now, but 20+ ducklings arrive this week, so that is going to change. Ducks don't need water every day, so I may just sit the pool out on the weekends. I plan on building a pond on the property in the near future, but until then it may just be a kiddie pool on weekends and a few sprinklers during the week. The ducks seem to make the most of the little mud puddles in the grass when I empty the pool.

 

[sanchabird]

Is the pooping the only thing that's messy?

 

[Going Quackers]

Is the pooping the only thing that's messy?

No, they must have water to eat and bathe... that creates massive mess and mud, they LOVE mud.. you do get methods, routines that help keep it under control but make no mistake they are messier than chickens.

 

[TLWR]

Space will have a lot to do with mess. My experience is the only mess is confined to their house. Wet poop. Big ol feet to smash what wasn't a watery squirt.
I have their food in a house of its own. Next to that is a large water pan. Under it all is pea gravel. No mess there.

It was a bit messier when the food wasn't on a hard surface and I had no chickens to pick up anything that went elsewhere. So I guess the chickens are my food clean up crew.

As far as mud - they have about an acre that they hang out on, so no mud mess here.

 

[sanchabird]

Do they turn grass into mud even if their kiddie pool is far away? If you go on a week vacation, can you fill up two kiddie pools when you leave and just have someone make sure they have food and collect eggs, or do the pools have to be refilled everyday?