DLM for brooder?

[duck_shepherdess]

From Metzer farms:
Typically it is better to add clean bedding on top of the old bedding instead of removing the soiled bedding every day.

This reminds me of the deep litter method I know a lot of you guys use for your adult birds. It also reminds me of wifezilla's double decker brooder where the bottom portion of the brooder was filled with wood pellets and she stirred them periodically. The top of the brooder though had a metal mesh and a shelf liner on top, so the ducklings weren't walking directly on the pellets.

Is there a reason not to let the ducklings walk directly on the wood pellets? What if I misted them first so they'd be a little fluffier? or put a little straw on top? Will they try to eat them as they disintegrate? Can I just keep adding more pellets as the pellets start to get moist? In about two weeks I'm getting four runner ducklings and I want to be ready.

 

[gofasterstripe]

Ive never used the pellets but I did use shavings...ONCE and never again. In less that 24 hours my ducks had it soaked thru and I had to haul that huge tote up the hall and thru the house to take it outside to empty it. To me, it was more hassle than it was worth. I would rather fork out for puppy pads. I do up to 4 changes a day, depending how dirty they make it, and while they are in the bath having a good old swim, I take the tote up to the kitchen, hose it out with a bit of pine sole, dry, and back down to the spare room. I would rather haul and empty tote rather than a heavy one out the door every night to dump it out. It might cost me a small fortune in puppy pads but hey, I dont care

 

[duck_shepherdess]

ok, so thats a no on the shavings. In theory these pellets are supposed to absorb around 10x what shavings do. Maybe that's not saying much. I'd like to use something compostable for bedding because my neighbor is excited about using it in her garden. "Make sure you have plenty of duck poop to share. Don't keep it all to yourself," she told me. So I'm trying to start early. I really like the idea of just piling up more bedding and then dealing with it all at once. Has anyone tried that?