Duck bedding input Q - modified deep litter

[DukesDucks]

Great videos. What is in your duck soup. They certainly enjoy it.

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

I gave up on straw early on, it was always a soggy nasty mess, it bothered my sinuses so i presumed it wasn't good for them. I feed inside, probably shouldn’t but I just change bedding more often. I use pine shavings keeps the smell down and it stays MUCH dryer than straw did, less messy to transport less messy to store and i dont think it is any more messy to clean up. Cost is sort of a wash. I feed with feed tubes and spillage is negligible, so it is poop and water which drains through the floor.

 

[Pollo Blanco]

But at dusk - put in some treats and they're good for 10hrs in their house? No food/water?

I've been doing this since my ducks were eight weeks old with no problems.

I use pine shavings in the coop.

Oh, BTW, Tractor Supply carries the Nutrina All Flock pellets.
They can also order in anything that they don't regularly stock, like steamed rolled oats.

 

[Andrea PNW]

I think you've gotten some good advice. I just want to reiterate that it's all about the routine. We live in Maine, se are just starting to unfreeze here (still some snow about). Our guys come out in the morning and free range for an hour or so supervised, and then we put them in the run for the day (there are lots of raptors right now, and the foxes are denning and the coyotes are about). We then let them out again for another hour of free ranging in the late afternoon before dinner.

While they have 24/7 access to food and water free choice in their run, they still get super excited about "Soup for Ducks," which is how we bring them in from free ranging. Wherever they are on the property, once they hear the "Hey Ducklings! If you're ready, it's time for Soup for Ducks" call, they come running. We feed them adjacent to their duckhouse/run, and close all the gates while they are eating. Once they are finished eating their soup, we say "Would anybody like to have a flock party," and they charge into the run and up the ramp to get a meal worm snack in the duckhouse. Even though we don't lock them in 99.9% of the time, we maintain the routine in case we do need to lock them in.

Here are a couple of videos (listen for the call at 0:07 in the first one):

They get very excited! This was on a cold morning where they did not go out for free-ranging, but they left their grain behind and came out for the "Soup for Ducks" routine:

And one more. Karen makes the call at 0:31. For soup, they'll even leave water!

And here they are after the flock party. We have a large tailgate door on the back, which makes cleaning out with deep litter a breeze! They run up the ramp and then wait at the back door.

SO GOOOOOOOOOD!

 

[3bird]

Great videos. What is in your duck soup. They certainly enjoy it.

Duck soup is usually peas with greens and a mealworm crumble. Pea shoots are the goto green, but we mix it up with lettuce too. In the winter, we sometimes add some corn on especially cold nights.

 

[DukesDucks]

My ducks won't touch peas - frozen, fresh, or canned. Can't say I blame them because I don't like them either. My ducks must be extra fussy. They don't like lots of things suggested as treats for ducks. Now mealworms - fresh or dried - they would do anything for.

 

[Niche Flock]

Yep, lots of good advice so far!
Personally I love the deep litter. Less work, more payoff in the spring when I shovel everything out to toss it in the compost or use in the garden.
I use a combo of TSC flake pine shavings + straw layered and I don't give them water & food at night in their coop.
When I let them out in the morning they get pellets and water, in the afternoon I bring them "seconds" like cabbage leaves, squished tomatoes, kale, etc. And two hours before dusk they get more water + pellets. I herd them all in at night, separating the geese as I go, so that they go into their own pen at night.
Having a set schedule every.single.day really helps these creatures of habit, and I've found that it's actually quite therapeutic for me too.
Sometimes if it's a cold night, I'll sprinkle some meal worms on their bedding and they burrow into it stirring it up looking for the worms.
This gives them good incentive and gets them in the motion for bedtime haha.

I used to put water and food in their own years ago, but it's such a mess. Even with laying down a screen platform and putting their water bucket inside a shallow splash bucket, they make a mess as ducks do. They've gone more than 12 hours without water and are fine in the morning when I let them out. It's important to give them fresh water several times a day during the day, especially when it gets hot in the summer. Ventilation is also essential, year round but especially be in the summer and at night when they don't have water, but usually with the longer days they're out til 8pm and out very early in the am.

Hope this helps! But it looks like you've got some great advice from a bunch of folks already!

 

[nao57]

You can just give them a small snack or what i do is heard them in. The first two weeks is rough then they get the routine and run right in.

If you guys mean getting them into their coop area at night. Yes that will work. That was my experience also. The first few times they are confused but then they get to it. But it seems that its important to have it be around the same time every day for going in and out. That helps their programming.

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For old bedding if you wanted to you could do some of it in a composting pile. (And the ducks would love picking this over). But I'm not saying you have to change it or that what you are already doing doesn't work.