Duck run cleanliness

[MNChickenChick]

Hi everyone, wondering what other duck hobbiests do for housing their ducks. We have ours in a fenced in area in the grass with a smaller hut for them to go into at night. The grass in their run is so covered in poop and the smell and flies are pretty bad. Wondering if there is a better way to keep ducks. If you could give me some suggestions on what else we could put down for them in their run that is easy to clean, etc. that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

[Amiga]

I have a nice base that is a combination of manure, chopped straw, leaves, etc. . . essentially it is compost. Smells like rich earth. The pen is on a 2% slope, so water does not pond. Under the swim pans is a combination of smooth pea gravel and sand, and if it gets a little rich, I add oak leaves - that seems to neutralize odors. Of course the area around the swim pans needs to be raked off three or four times a year - the stuff goes onto garden beds or compost piles.

If the manure is combined with air (meaning, doesn't stay wet), carbon (leaves, straw, etc) and gets aerated regularly (the ducks do that foraging for worms), it is fine - and once a year or so I collect it by raking it up, and I can use that in the gardens.

Inside the night pen, I have a watering station to keep the bedding fairly dry.

 

[chickens really]

Think your asking more about the run and not the house??
I keep my ducks on pea gravel...Hose it off when yucky with poop. Regular sized river gravel is also great..Sand for ducks does not work as it is always wet. Build up a slope so the water runs away from your pen.

 

[lomine]

I have pea gravel around the in-ground stock tank and deep little for the rest of run. Deep little is basically what Amiga described. I prefer it to the pea gravel as it is easier to maintain. But pea gravel is better around the water.

 

[chickens really]

I have pea gravel around the in-ground stock tank and deep little for the rest of run. Deep little is basically what Amiga described. I prefer it to the pea gravel as it is easier to maintain. But pea gravel is better around the water.

The deep litter method gets rancid and stinky...the cleaning is horrid....I dont use deep litter with my chickens either.
Where I live its gravel a slope and the hose...Poop gone everyday.....

 

[lomine]

The deep litter method gets rancid and stinky...the cleaning is horrid....I dont use deep litter with my chickens either.
Where I live its gravel a slope and the hose...Poop gone everyday.....

If it is done correctly it doesn't smell and it is very easy to deal with. I don't even have to worry about turning mine thanks to my chickens. It also makes for a great compost. There are many benefits to the DLM and many people use and recommend it.

I'm sure you don't mean to but many of your posts come across as condescending. The great thing about this site is that many people come together to share their knowledge and support. Its great that you want to share your knowledge and experience but you shouldn't be putting down everything you don't agree with. There are a lot of different ways to correctly raise ducks, feed them, house them, etc so there are going to be different answers. Just because you don't like it or don't do it that way doesn't make it wrong.

 

[chickens really]

If it is done correctly it doesn't smell and it is very easy to deal with. I don't even have to worry about turning mine thanks to my chickens. It also makes for a great compost. There are many benefits to the DLM and many people use and recommend it.

I'm sure you don't mean to but many of your posts come across as condescending. The great thing about this site is that many people come together to share their knowledge and support. Its great that you want to share your knowledge and experience but you shouldn't be putting down everything you don't agree with. There are a lot of different ways to correctly raise ducks, feed them, house them, etc so there are going to be different answers. Just because you don't like it or don't do it that way doesn't make it wrong.

I will stop posting on BYC. I guess strait forward answers are condescending?
I never write a book, I only answer to the best of my knowledge.....You don't like my Duck knowledge....I have been helpful and strait forward.
Sorry, I do know birds. Have my answers been wrong?

 

[lomine]

I'm talking about the way you put down other people's answers. You may not think you are doing it but that is the way it comes across. You seem to refuse to acknowledge that your way is not the only way. And for some people in some situations your answer is the wrong answer.

 

[Duck Drover]

We live in an area where it rains alot so using any type of absorbant bedding just creates a boggy stinky mess. We have to keep our ground clear of leaves, grass clippings, etc. in order to allow the rain water to absorb into the ground rather than soaking into absorbant materials that hold moisture and manure like a sponge above the ground where it squishes when we walk over it.

As long as the poop is liquid enough to soak into the ground without getting trapped above ground, you will have clean dirt and your grass will grow lush and beautiful. Since you already have the grass, all you have to do is rinse it with water to liquify the poop and feed the grass and the worms. Our grass gets washed off by the rain all winter but in the summer we water it with the hose in order to keep the grass clean. I personally think grass is ideal for ducks because they will trim it and keep it healthy looking as long as they are not confined to an area that is too small that the manure builds up too deep on top of the grass.

We use shavings inside the chicken coops and we hose out their yard the same way we do with the ducks but it takes far more cleaning and their manure will burn the grass while duck manure is not hot like chicken manure. We can't use our shavings as mulch with chicken manure in them due to the smell when it gets wet so it goes in our yard waste to be picked up with our garbage. They take too long to compost so we just have them removed.

If you water down your duck poop so it absorbs into the ground, you will grow a healthy worm population below the grass that will eat up the poop and give you worm casings in return for a nice rich topsoil. I think you have an ideal situation if you just add water.

 

[MNChickenChick]

We live in an area where it rains alot so using any type of absorbant bedding just creates a boggy stinky mess. We have to keep our ground clear of leaves, grass clippings, etc. in order to allow the rain water to absorb into the ground rather than soaking into absorbant materials that hold moisture and manure like a sponge above the ground where it squishes when we walk over it.

As long as the poop is liquid enough to soak into the ground without getting trapped above ground, you will have clean dirt and your grass will grow lush and beautiful. Since you already have the grass, all you have to do is rinse it with water to liquify the poop and feed the grass and the worms. Our grass gets washed off by the rain all winter but in the summer we water it with the hose in order to keep the grass clean. I personally think grass is ideal for ducks because they will trim it and keep it healthy looking as long as they are not confined to an area that is too small that the manure builds up too deep on top of the grass.

We use shavings inside the chicken coops and we hose out their yard the same way we do with the ducks but it takes far more cleaning and their manure will burn the grass while duck manure is not hot like chicken manure. We can't use our shavings as mulch with chicken manure in them due to the smell when it gets wet so it goes in our yard waste to be picked up with our garbage. They take too long to compost so we just have them removed.

If you water down your duck poop so it absorbs into the ground, you will grow a healthy worm population below the grass that will eat up the poop and give you worm casings in return for a nice rich topsoil. I think you have an ideal situation if you just add water.