ducks on paving slabs?

[688peterl]

my garden is made up of paving slabs all over, the duck run will have a wooden floor covered with lino, but will my ducks be OK on paving slabs for the time they are not in the run?? this is what i mean

 

[688peterl]

so will they be ok on that all day? i dont want them to hurt their feet or anything

 

[lleighmay]

I have to say that I like this idea for my duck pen- they have a house with straw bedding to get into but they totally trash the pen digging and messing and slinging water everywhere when they're not loose roaming the chicken/goat pasture (I lock them in at night and when I'm at work). I hadn't thought of pavers and concrete prices were prohibitive but love the idea I could hose it off since sand, straw, and everything else seems to be composted in short order. I would think as long as they have access to other surfaces they would be fine. Thanks for the great idea; I'll look forward to others' responses.

 

[txchickie]

For a short while I had the run for my marans (it's "portable", a 10x20 6ft tall dog kennel) on a concrete slab. It looked to be the most sensible spot in the yard, but it was GROSS. No amount of sweeping or washing the concrete kept it clean enough for me. I tried covering the concrete with straw and it was even more nasty. It got moved after about 2 weeks, I couldn't deal with it.

Maybe others have had better luck with it, but it didn't work for me and we are in a super dry climate. On the ground/dirt, the poop gets broken down easier and breaks up. On concrete it just sits there and looks (and smells!) awful.

 

[nettie]

being on hard concrete all day could cause feet problems. The concrete can scuff their feet up, and scuffed feet could lead to bumblefoot. My ducks have to put on special shoes i made them when i take them out for walks because they'd get little scabs from the concrete.

 

[geosheets]

Quote:
I agree... it will be too hard on their feet... that grass & mulched area looks much better.

 

[CityChicker]

You are practically guaranteeing that you are going to have foot and leg problems. They can't be kept continuously on a hard surface like that without problems, not to mention that it is going to be a nightmare to keep clean. You will pretty much have to be out there spraying continuously, several times a day if you have any hope of keeping them clean. It is so much easier to use some sort of substrate, whether that be sand, dirt, or some some sort of liter.

 

[Chloelouise]

let them on that grass, and it will be so green!

 

[WriterofWords]

Removed due to attitude of OP. If you don't want suggestions don't ask for them.

 

[nettie]

if you are not constantly spraying the slabs down, the risk of your duckies getting bumblefoot goes up sky high... the concrete will ruff up their feet and the lack of absorbent bedding will guarantee they walk around on poop... that's how bumble starts... bumble is very hard to get rid of and keeps coming back and is expensive and painful to treat.... don't subject your ducks to this hazard if you don't have too.

my duck got bumble last spring, and had to have surgery that cost me around $400 to fix. it came back just recently and now she as to wear shoes all of the time, permanently to prevent her problems from coming back... luckily my duck is a house duck who's used to being handled all of the time, an outdoor duck will not be so keen on having shoes strapped to it, lol. even my "perfect princess" fights me every step of the way, and she even likes her shoes. lol