Duck coop

[f4phantomgib]

I recently purchased ten ducks and i keep them in an 8’x10’ hoop house with about 4” of pea gravel. Keeping them clean has become a much bigger problem than i anticipated. Because of the local hawks i wasn’t letting them out until we had 5 days of intermittent rain which flooded the hoop house.

I have set up a temporary fence around a tree for ducks during the day to let the hoop house dry out. But it is drying slowly. I put hay down to help it dry but that seems to be even more of a mess. I live in the deep south so straw is not available or very expensive.

What I’ve got isn’t working so I must a new duck house and run. What type flooring do I build the duck house on? Any suggestions or design techniques would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Callender Girl]

I find trying to keep duck housing/runs clean is a near impossibility. Because we have been in a very long drought, I was successfully using straw (more available here and fairly cheap); yesterday's 2-inch rain has made a soggy mess, much like your hay.

My runners live in a converted chicken tractor, basically wrapped in hardware cloth, that has a dirt floor. I just found some 16-inch rubber "faux brick" pavers at Menards for $5 each and plan to line one end of the duck shelter with those. There are grooves between the "bricks" of the big pavers, which I'm hoping will help channel away some of the wet mess that ducks love to make.

In the run, I have used, with some success, wood-chip mulch to absorb some of the wetness.

Since I use food to lure the ducks back into their shelter at night, I also leave a half-filled water dish in there. A boot tray underneath catches most of the mess they make, and it is easily dumped and hosed off as needed.

Best wishes with creating a safe, mostly clean (because they are DUCKS) home for your ducks! BTW, congratulations on having ducks and being a part of this community.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

My have a hoop house with a similar amount of room but only for the nights. I use the deep layer method and add pine shaving on top. During the day, mine free range in my garden. We do have a six food privacy fence. There are mainly two kinds of hawks near me (Memphis, TN) Red-tail and Cooper’s (Red Shouldered too). The Red-tail hunts by sitting on a tree branch, phone wire, or other high perch and waiting for movement below. They seem to love squirrels and will be attracted by them. I do not have many perches for those big hawks and I constantly try to get rid of rodents. Cooper Hawks are much smaller and they hunt by flying around corners quickly. They usually like to eat small birds like sparrows and doves. My ducks have lots of places to sleep in the garden where they are under shrubs or mesh wire. They are all Khakis or similar sized ducks (not tiny Calls). Also, my neighbors have Martin houses. Martins chase away hawks when they are here in the summer. In five years, I have seen many hawks. I have even found piles of sparrow feathers from them. But, they have never bothered my ducks. I know others have mesh netting over their gardens to deter an air attack. Anyway, I think you will never keep a small pen clean unless it is only for the night and then it gets the daytime to dry out some. I think yours need more room during the day. You might consider finding a way to let them out some.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If you are planning on a floor in your coop we used plywood then put sheet vinyl over that then I use deep bedding of pine shavings. I also clean out all wet poop daily fluff up the bedding and add new as needed. Some members use rubber floor mats as flooring.

 

[ruthhope]

Do you have access to live oak leaves -- or laurel oak leaves? Probably not now but next march? I colelct sacks of oak leaves from round my neighborhood and use them to cover wet mess in my coop. Mine is also a hoop coop but its floor is hardware cloth onto sandy soil. That helps as water drains away. The first layer on top of the hardware cloth is a deep layer of oak leaves so that the ducks feet aren't injured by the wire. I mainly use deep layer with pine shavings but when it gets wet inside -- I sometimes have the tarp rolled up in nice weather, and I have been hit by and unexpected heavy thunder storm that has thoroughly wet the litter -- I put down another layer of oak leaves. Then continue with the pine shavings.