ChristyPogue
Chirping
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.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).
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?
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