happygoldenyears
In the Brooder
Hello! We have a big 10x20' dog kennel and our ducks and chickens live together in there. We have tried doing the deep litter method and have added about 5-7 bales of hay and 2 large bags of small wood chips on the floor in addition to the original 8-ish inches of bedding... every time we add more bedding, within hours, the ducks have it all matted down with mud. I was sick for a few weeks and my husband was taking care of the birds for me. When I finally went out there, I asked him what he did with all the hay and chips. Nothing! It is just so matted down, it looks like bare dirt! It also STINKS like crazy... but one of the main reasons we even went with the deep litter method was because it was supposed to reduce the smell.
We changed waterers so the ducks can't make such a mess. We removed their pool now that it's cooler and they just have a small wash bin of water (besides the 8 gallon waterer) so they can get their nostrils submerged, but it's in a corner that's at a lower end of their run so if it spills, the water flows under the gate and down toward the street instead of pooling in their run.
Anyway, it looks terrible, stinks, and now it's so muddy that the chickens can't do dust baths and can't get themselves clean. It's going to be snowing in just a few weeks (I'm in southern Idaho), so leaving a pool out isn't an option because it'll freeze. What can I do to keep it clean and smelling okay? The first article I read about deep litter said you only have to turn it every 6 months, but I've watched some YouTube videos and some people turn it daily, others monthly, others every other day. Which is it? Or is deep litter impossible with a bunch of clumsy ducks?
Also, I have a large pile--about the size of a large washing machine--of large wood chips in my backyard. Would mixing those in with the bedding do anything to help keep it from matting?
Thanks in advance for reading and responding to my novel!
We changed waterers so the ducks can't make such a mess. We removed their pool now that it's cooler and they just have a small wash bin of water (besides the 8 gallon waterer) so they can get their nostrils submerged, but it's in a corner that's at a lower end of their run so if it spills, the water flows under the gate and down toward the street instead of pooling in their run.
Anyway, it looks terrible, stinks, and now it's so muddy that the chickens can't do dust baths and can't get themselves clean. It's going to be snowing in just a few weeks (I'm in southern Idaho), so leaving a pool out isn't an option because it'll freeze. What can I do to keep it clean and smelling okay? The first article I read about deep litter said you only have to turn it every 6 months, but I've watched some YouTube videos and some people turn it daily, others monthly, others every other day. Which is it? Or is deep litter impossible with a bunch of clumsy ducks?
Also, I have a large pile--about the size of a large washing machine--of large wood chips in my backyard. Would mixing those in with the bedding do anything to help keep it from matting?
Thanks in advance for reading and responding to my novel!