Covered duck run ground?

[JillZaHulk]

Me and my husband are building a new duck house and run and a portion of the new run will be covered where we can easily apply and remove seasonal walls... I'm curious what do you use on the ground in your runs in a covered area where rain won't keep things growing? Sand? Fine grit sized gravel/large sand? Just dirt and let it get muddy and messy? I'd like to keep it as clean as possible with minimal maintenance.

 

[azygous]

I recommend medium to coarse construction sand for a duck run.

What is the makeup of your subsoil? If it's clay like mine, it's porous and water will drain downward. If you have a sandy loam, it will do the opposite, saturate the subsoil and create a perpetual soggy condition, the subsoil possibly floating up through the sand and creating mud and quick sand.

Start by finding your location on this map at this link and what soil type you have where you live. http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/we.php?id=286

 

[JillZaHulk]

I recommend medium to coarse construction sand for a duck run.

What is the makeup of your subsoil? If it's clay like mine, it's porous and water will drain downward. If you have a sandy loam, it will do the opposite, saturate the subsoil and create a perpetual soggy condition, the subsoil possibly floating up through the sand and creating mud and quick sand.

Start by finding your location on this map at this link and what soil type you have where you live. http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/we.php?id=286

It won't let me load your link. Our dirt has a lot of rocks of all sizes. Any dirt/soil we lay on top will slowly disappear down in the rocky ground... That being said we still get some pretty good puddles. It's definitely not clay. If it helps, we are in the Olympic Foothills and on a well. Lots of undeveloped land and forest's around us. We are outside of town so the land near us is unworked with lots of rocks and roots. There are also lots of tree frog burrows on and around our property.

 

[JillZaHulk]

I recommend medium to coarse construction sand for a duck run.

What is the makeup of your subsoil? If it's clay like mine, it's porous and water will drain downward. If you have a sandy loam, it will do the opposite, saturate the subsoil and create a perpetual soggy condition, the subsoil possibly floating up through the sand and creating mud and quick sand.

Start by finding your location on this map at this link and what soil type you have where you live. http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/we.php?id=286

i used my computer instead of my phone and its working now... it says its
Gh—Grove gravelly sandy loam, 0 to 5 percent slopes

 

[JillZaHulk]

by the way i'm going to have to bookmark this website. this is really cool. i love finding informative sites like these.

 

[Isaac 0]

I use straw for bedding inside the coop and wood chips and other decomposing matter for the run, ducks are very messy birds so most bedding will eventually get wet at some point in time. Is your run covered? Does water slope towards your coop or away from it?

 

[azygous]

My run is covered with broad overhangs so no weather comes inside. I've sloped my ground away from the run with a channel on the side where run-odd and snow melt come down the slope from the hill above the run. (Notice my run above my avatar to see the slope.)

I use regular construction sand. It handles a sudden five gallon water spill by draining directly down into the clay subsoil. I once had a water cistern leak on the bank above my house, lost a thousand gallons and not a drop showed up under my house. It all drained straight down into the clay.

I would experiment with a test plot, say four square feet, and set up a layer of sand on top the soil, pour a gallon of water on it and watch what it does. It will be your own science experiment and can tell you a lot about your soil and its percolation rating.

You may be able to use construction sand if you remove enough soil to be able to make the sandy bedding at least six inches deep. Even deeper sand would help drain any spills and keep the surface dry. Sand dries out at a remarkable speed. Very coarse sand will dry quickest.

 

[CoriM]

I will watch this thread with curiosity. I also live in Western WA, on land surrounded by woods. Our covered duck run has two areas. A section they sleep in and we store some supplies - this has a plywood floor covered by easy to clean tiles. This works great. The run has a dirt floor. Initially we had half of that covered with straw and the half that surrounds a little pond insert was covered with pea gravel. That was summer. Then my duck got bumblefoot in the fall and I freaked out, thinking it was the gravel (even though it was rounded) and took that out and added sand instead. Winter hasn't been great. Moisture comes up from the ground, so every day in the straw area I scoop up poops and add fresh wood shavings (which I've switched to as it's easier to just scoop poopy areas, and seems drier). The area around the pool has become a disaster. How do people keep their sand clean? You can not spray it down or you have a big mud puddle. The sand absolutely stinks! I spent a couple months scooping the worst poopy areas and then putting fresh sand on top, but just can't stand that area - it's so gross. Now I am in the process of removing the sand, and trying to put back several inches of pea gravel, in hopes that I can spray the poop down and it drains? I don't know - it's a mess and I can't wait until things dry out.

 

[azygous]

Look in the phone book under public agencies, county, state, or federal, and find the nearest EPA office and call them, asking to speak to a ground water expert. Then ask what the soil percolation rate is, on average, in your locale.

Sand, if the subsoil doesn't percolate well, will remain damp or even soggy, and that will cause obnoxious odors. If that is the case, you'd be better off with deep litter, adding dry material over the damp smelly stuff, helping to keep the surface dry and the deeper material naturally to decompose. This method is not without risk, though. The composting material needs occasional aerating or it can develop mold and harmful bacteria. The solution is not to have the deep litter so deep it can't be regularly aerated to help oxygenate the material to counter bacterial and mold growth.

 

[JillZaHulk]

The link mentioned by @azygous about types of soil is pretty awesome. It talks about drainage and how deep water settles certain times of year for your specific address and all that stuff.

Our land is flat. We plan to do the deep litter method with the new duck house. I was thinking of digging down a little ways so at the point where it starts to break down we'll be close to ground level so straw doesn't escape and mess up the closing of the door. I've also thought about doing something like hardwire cloth on the bottom for drainage and to keep any critters from digging in then doing the deep litter on top of that.