Duck repellant?

[Dancinbaer]

Back story: Even though I built our two Rouens a nice snuggy coop, they insist on hanging out on our patio door step, which is just a single step made of wood. Even when the temps dropped below zero they spent the night on the step instead of the coop except if it was windy.

Problem: Ducks pooping all over patio step. During winter we do not use the patio door. The poop would freeze and build up. If the temps happened to get high enough we would wash the step with buckets of warm water. Now that spring is hopefully not far off the step and surrounding area has gotten pretty gross.

Question: Short of fencing off our small stone patio is there any natural repellants I can use to keep the ducks away from the patio? Some kind of plant maybe?

Thanks,
Denny

 

[Finny]

I am not sure if there are any repellents, but I do know a way for your ducks to go into the coop at night. I find that all ducks love dried meal worms. Lure your ducks into the coop using those at dusk and lock them in. They will eventually go in there buy themselves at dusk. Hope this helped and good luck

 

[Amiga]

Perhaps one of those big pinwheels that move - they might be afraid of that.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Fab idea Amiga. I'm totally buying those for round my flower gardens