Duck bedding input Q - modified deep litter

[Andrea PNW]

Soooooo - I wanted to get duck mama input on how I'm handling duck bedding. So originally I was all in on deep litter method (I mean ---- duh physical labor), but I do keep food and water in their house (a small standard shed) because their covered outdoor pen isn't attached to the shed and fully predator proof yet - it is a next 9mo goal. Because of covid I'm working from home and have no problem letting them in and out each day. All that background context is to say that food and water gets them into their duck house at night which is fine but y'all know that makes things grosser.

So here's my q: my bedding is straw and every week or so I've been scooping out the wet gross stuff around their water/food and composting it and just turn over the dry poopy straw and sprinkling in fresh clean straw over the top. So it's kinda deep litter, it's kinda getting rid of the super wet stuff cuz mold.

Am I doing it right?

 

[Ratchnick]

If there is no mold or ammonia smell then its working for you. If you have no problem letting them in and out every day then there is no reason to have food or water in the house. Besides the obvious water splashing, the food that they eat all night gets pooped out before they come out in the morning. Once i took their food out of their house i got much more life out of their bedding.

 

[Andrea PNW]

If there is no mold or ammonia smell then its working for you. If you have no problem letting them in and out every day then there is no reason to have food or water in the house. Besides the obvious water splashing, the food that they eat all night gets pooped out before they come out in the morning. Once i took their food out of their house i got much more life out of their bedding.

Will I still be able to get them in at night? I'm sure that's such a dumb question - maybe I just throw some treats in there? I swear I've made all the wrong decisions despite having access to all the information. Apparently I've been destined to learn the hard way about an things ducks.

 

[Ratchnick]

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.

 

[Ratchnick]

 

[Andrea PNW]

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.

Ok so when I let them out then give them their crumble/oatmeal/meal worm/lettuces in water smorgasbord in the morning. Then they free range for most of the day and swim in their pool and do all their duck things.

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

 

[Ratchnick]

Yes, last summer my ducks went 12 to 14 hours no food or water. Its worth noting its not hot where i live so dont have your ducks lock in a 90 degree shed with no water.

 

[Andrea PNW]

I live in Seattle so.... No worries there

 

[3bird]

Ok so when I let them out then give them their crumble/oatmeal/meal worm/lettuces in water smorgasbord in the morning. Then they free range for most of the day and swim in their pool and do all their duck things.

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

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.

 

[NatJ]

Will I still be able to get them in at night? I'm sure that's such a dumb question - maybe I just throw some treats in there?

You could shut them in with the food, then go take the food back out a bit later in the evening.