Bedding in the duck run?

[ChristyPogue]

Lack of air causes stink. Water pushes out air.

Our strategy is to have the pen on a 2% incline - not steep, but enough for water to run off. It runs into a shallow channel that leads to a garden bed. You should see how much the plants love that duck pen water! Wow! The comfrey that got the water for the past two months is twice the size of the comfrey that did not.

Anyway, you might consider getting some coconut coir (comes in dry bricks, you add water to fluff it out) since it is nice and stiff and should have some air spaces. I use chopped straw also. Oak leaves have proven really nice - they seem to get rid of stink in wet poopy areas (sometimes the area around the swim pans gets ungraded).

Hi Amiga, I can't thank you enough for the advice! I've never heard of coconut coir so I'll most definitely check that out NOW! I agree...the duck water makes for an excellent organic compost/fertilizer! I've just never had so much wetness & poop & stink. I'm in central Texas and I think we've gotten more rain these past 4 weeks than we did all spring and summer last year! I'm not complaining...we sure are grateful for it..the wheat we're harvesting now is wonderful and the corn is growing beautifully.

So can I go ahead and put down some hay or something to help dry it up a bit until I get some of the coconut coir? And when I do get the coconut coir would I still need to add water to it or since since everything is so wet do i just put it out in the run dry?

 

[localife]

How about putting a thin layer of straw down each day (or better yet, morning and night), and then raking it up and putting it in the compost, replacing it in the pen with a new thin layer? It would require some time each day, but for the short term it might help freshen things up, and I can assure you that the compost will love it as much as the garden loves the duck water!

Around my place, when we have unexpectedly heavy rains I also sometimes put down a pallet or two in the animal pens, topped with a bit of straw -- keeps them off muddy or floody ground during the worst of it. (I wouldn't leave them down, though -- they become rat tunnels if they stay in one place for too long....)

 

[Amiga]

The hay is going to add to the stink if it gets soaked. You might try wood shavings - they have some strength and might maintain some air pockets.

 

[localife]

The hay is going to add to the stink if it gets soaked. You might try wood shavings - they have some strength and might maintain some air pockets.

In my experience, hay will stink very quickly when soaked, straw will not if it is changed out everyday. Wood chips, at least the soft wood variety that are available in my area, stink very quickly and tend to mat and take a long time to decompose in the compost pile. I have often put a thin layer -- and I mean just enough to prevent mud from sticking to the bottom of feet -- of straw on muddy ground in the animal pens and found it to be quite effective. That said, I live in central California where there is a distinct rainy season, and lately not much rain even during that....

 

[ChristyPogue]

Thank you both so very much, yall don't know how much I appreciate the help more than you know! I have LOTS of coastal on hand but no wood shavings so I'll start with that. I don't mind cleaning the run out daily...I have KIDS!!!

Yall have a SUPER BLESSED day!