Duck Run bedding

[ndcallahan]

Alrighty! We have a 12x12 duck run and after 2.5 days of rain, well, it's a mess. That's okay, it's outside, but I'm curious....

What do you all use to put in your duck runs? Anything? Gravel? Straw? Do you leave it bare?

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Pine shaving, with more added on top creating a deep layer.

 

[ndcallahan]

I'm curious. Why pine shavings outside?

 

[ruthhope]

Pine shaving, with more added on top creating a deep layer.

I too use pine shavings deep layered in my duck coop, but I also add dried oak leaves that I collect from round my neighborhood and save by the sackful. My duck coop is fully rainproof. If you have a run open to the rain, the deep layered solution wont work. I also have deep mulch in the garden with oak leaves everywhere the ducks roam. That might work in your duck run if it is open to the rain.
Where are you based? In the SE states, live oak and laurel oak drop their leaves in March. Many folks blow them from their gardens and leave them on the street. I drive round and pick up paper sacks of clean leaves, clear plstic bags of clean leaves and occasionally -- well quite often -- black yardwaste bags if I know they contain only clean leaves. They are a wonderful resource for ducks. You can see the oak leaf mulch in this photograph: th e ducks love it as they rummage for grubs and bugs. My muscovies like flapping their wings and creating clouds of leaves and charging through the piles of leaves before I have spread them having fun!!