I was amazed at the quick work of Cressida and Octavia turning the brooder into a swamp. I would change out the soaked shavings in the morning, come back two hours later, and they are soaked again! When I moved them to the coop it was a little bit better, but the water mess, poop, and spilled feed was not smelling very nice after a few hours. I was prepared to change the shavings every night, but mom did a bit of research and found this awesome idea. This is the one I built:
It’s a paint roller pan with a hardware cloth cover. First I took two scrap pieces of hardware cloth and figured out how they could fit together nicely. Then I cut off all the messy sharp parts sticking out and used small zip ties to attach them. Then I cut the wood to size (which is actually waterproof wood flooring, which was extra from the basement, which is currently being finished) and after messing around a bit I put two pieces on the long ends and one across the middle for support. I built a little ramp which I’ll probably remove since I don’t think how I attached it is a good long-term solution. I zip tied the end to the two feet of the pan so that the top hinges up and I can empty it and clean it out.
Now if they drip or make a mess it will all run right to the deep part of the pan and not get literally everywhere! They seem to approve of it. The two pieces of wood on the long ends I thought were originally just for support, but turns out the birds prefer to stand on them instead of the wire, so win-win. Also, my two ducks did not have deep enough water to clean out their nostrils because I had no waterer deep enough and even if I did put something in there, they’d just knock it over or make a huge mess. I was running out several times a day to give them a cup deep enough to dunk their heads in. Now I can set it on the wire, because even if they do knock it over, it will be simple to clean up.
I’m very pleased with this solution! There are many variations that you can make for ducks of all sizes. I will be using this with chicks in the future even, less mess and less shavings and dirt in the water.
It’s a paint roller pan with a hardware cloth cover. First I took two scrap pieces of hardware cloth and figured out how they could fit together nicely. Then I cut off all the messy sharp parts sticking out and used small zip ties to attach them. Then I cut the wood to size (which is actually waterproof wood flooring, which was extra from the basement, which is currently being finished) and after messing around a bit I put two pieces on the long ends and one across the middle for support. I built a little ramp which I’ll probably remove since I don’t think how I attached it is a good long-term solution. I zip tied the end to the two feet of the pan so that the top hinges up and I can empty it and clean it out.
Now if they drip or make a mess it will all run right to the deep part of the pan and not get literally everywhere! They seem to approve of it. The two pieces of wood on the long ends I thought were originally just for support, but turns out the birds prefer to stand on them instead of the wire, so win-win. Also, my two ducks did not have deep enough water to clean out their nostrils because I had no waterer deep enough and even if I did put something in there, they’d just knock it over or make a huge mess. I was running out several times a day to give them a cup deep enough to dunk their heads in. Now I can set it on the wire, because even if they do knock it over, it will be simple to clean up.
I’m very pleased with this solution! There are many variations that you can make for ducks of all sizes. I will be using this with chicks in the future even, less mess and less shavings and dirt in the water.
I had tons of notebook pages filled with plans and budgets and things like that that. I’m so excited that I finally have them. I’m working on building a really good relationship so that they will follow me because we have a small creek with little fish and I would love to take them down there to swim and play. So far Cressida is the friendlier one, Octavia is more independent.
