Flooring for duck pen?

[Missy60]

Missy, to my great surprise, I don't get a lot of flies with the deep litter. I think it's because I dig it over every day, so poop is quite quickly dug in and starts to be eaten and broken down by good bacteria, before flies can really get a hold. It really doesn't smell at all (which I still find amazing!!!). Having said that, it was a little whiffy in the first few weeks until the bacteria got going and got stuck into the poo. You need to let a little ecoystem develop.

Sounds like it is working great for you too!! I am really sold on deep litter for ducks now (as long as you can dig it over daily).

I agree with the idea of putting the bigger rocks at the bottom, then smaller ones towards the top.   Bif, smooth river rocks on the top (eg. round their water supply) would be good too though.

I only have a little sand over my wire mesh, and then pine shavings over that. I scoop out the poop every day, and stir up the shavings that might be a little damp around the water bowl. I do this after letting the ducks out for the day so everything is dry for them that evening. I have a covered coop attached to the pen with straw in it, but they never go in there. It is not deep neither of my bedding is deep at all. I have actually had this bedding in for awhile though. When I had straw in the pen I had to clean it out every few days because it would stink. I do top off the pine shavings from time to time.

 

[kimi706]

I am a newbie here so I hope you can help me with a couple of questions.

1. You state large rocks - well I am going to build a pen under a shade tree and there are already rocks there. Large ones. I live in the desert so I have the desert landscaping. Should I leave them and just level it out and then add the sand or deep litter?

I was planning on removing them and then I had no clue what I was going to do. But the sand/litter sounds like a great idea.

2. What type of litter should be used? Or I should ask what is deep litter?

Thanks in advance for your help!!!

 

[70%cocoa]

Hi Kimi. If you are in a desert area then you probably have very good drainage. That's a good thing for ducks!!

If you have large rocks and it'd be a pain to move them then I'd just build the pen around them. If your soil already drains well then you don't need to add any sand. You could make a frame from timber (mine is out of treated pine railway ties) to form the base of your coop and then fill the base with litter. When I use the term 'deep litter' I just mean a thick layer (say, anything from 2 to 6 inches) of dried plant material (can be any kind of fine mulch, chopped straw, chopped lucerne, dried leaves, rice hulls/husks....whatever you can get cheaply in your area) that you dig over a bit every day (if you had this same thing in a chicken pen they would do the digging for you). The litter slowly breaks down into a kind of compost, and then every 6 months or do you can put it on your garden and put fresh stuff in. It is important to dig it over though, otherwise they just make a layer of poop on the top. Plus, digging it over puts air into the mix, which is crucial to keep it smelling nice. I find it easiest to put gumboots on and kind of wade around/kick it around. With litter, just don't use anything with long fibres (like straw) as it is really hard to turn it over and dig it - it just forms a mat. Something fine/short that you can easily dig is the way to go.

After a while, if you have earthworms around, they will come to live under your duck pen and the ducks will enjoy digging for the worms. So, this approach to pen flooring provides some entertainment for the ducks as well.

I used to have sand in two of my pens but I found that two of my ducks kept getting eye infections, so I switched to deep litter and have had no recurrence of the problem, despite the fact that I have not changed the litter in months (just topped it up). All the poop gets eaten by good bacteria, so you just end up with nice healthy compost, rather than a big poop pile. You may find that in the early stages you need to add a few handfuls of garden lime to keep the balance right - if you notice it smelling a bit like ammonia then add a bit more dry material and a few handfuls of garden lime for every square yard and dig it all about thoroughly.

 

[kimi706]

Thank you for your response!!!

Being in the desert where it never rains the ground doesn't soak up water very well. I am thinking I will just move the rocks so it will just be dirt.

So should I then just use the mulch/litter as you mentioned?

I was going to build a bottom to the pen with wire(can't find the right word for this) on the bottom, so it will be about an inch or so off the ground. This way there will be the space to let water drain if by chance it does rain or whatever. Should I do this or should I just do the deep litter?

Thanks again for your help

 

[70%cocoa]

Ah, I see, the ground has kind of become a bit water repellent.

When you say that you are thinking of making it about an inch or so off the ground, do you mean a raised floor with an air gap underneath? If you did that, you'd have to support the floor a bit so it didn't sag (which will add expense and time and difficulty factor), and litter will still fall through the wire and fill up the gap over time.

If your dirt doesn't naturally drain too well then this is what I'd do (which is how I have now arranged my pens). I would make a base that has timber sides that are about 6 inches tall (with heavy duty wire mesh underneath for a predator-proof floor), then half fill that with sand, then put your deep litter on top of that. If the sand gets a bit mixed in with the litter that's not a problem for ducky feet. If/when it rains the sand will drain and will mean the ducks aren't standing in puddles. Does that kind of idea sound workable in your situation? Or, you could just try it without the sand, and see how you go. If you find that it gets a bit slushy when it rains you can always move out the litter and add a layer of sand later on.

In the place where you are planning on putting the pen, is it in a place that is higher than the rest of your yard or lower (higher being much better

).

You are very welcome for the help, by the way. I'm glad that it is a bit useful

 

[kimi706]

So just so I understand what you are saying is the heavy wire mesh would actually be on the ground then add the sand and litter? If this is the case it would be easy!

I would clear the rocks, place the frame with attached mesh and add the sand and litter.

I appreciate your help!!!

 

[70%cocoa]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting. Heavy mesh attached to frame straight on the ground, then sand then litter. That's what I have and I find that it works really well (as long as the top layer of litter is dug over a bit daily - at least just where it's poopy).

It you want you can section off a corner with some more timber and fill this part with pea gravel and put the water source over that, for extra good drainage.

The only downside of the deep litter approach is that they put a bit of it in their water. But there is a downside to every system I guess.

 

[kimi706]

Thank you sooooo much for your help 70%cocoa!

I have pea gravel on the side of my house that I can take and use for the area where I am going to put the little pool. I can replace the side of my house with all the big rock that I am removing....I was trying for figure out what I was going to do with it!!!

You totally Rock!!!!

 

[PeanutnCashew]

This has worked for me:

My cage is a foot off ground with wire mesh-heavy, no sag) . I lay pine straw on half for the ducks to lay on and hose it off 3 x day..any duck poops etc. It drys quick. I change the straw 1 x week. I once tried wheat grass and it gets really soggy, I like plain pine straw.

 

[70%cocoa]

Thank you sooooo much for your help 70%cocoa!

I have pea gravel on the side of my house that I can take and use for the area where I am going to put the little pool.  I can replace the side of my house with all the big rock that I am removing....I was trying for figure out what I was going to do with it!!! 

You totally Rock!!!!

:yiipchick

Glad to help! Let us know how you go with it

I also have a raised coop (about a foot off the ground) for growing ducks from 2 weeks old to adult sized till they get sold or move in with the older birds. It's only used for a part of the year. The floor of it is pine decking mostly covered in litter then at the end a mesh section for water and food (no litter over this area). When there are ducks in it I hose it out 2x a day but I find that all the water and poop starts to form a slushy, gross mess underneath the house and to prevent this I have to scrape out the underneath with a shovel every week. This style of house has its good points for sure but it wouldn't work for me as a permanent house - too much hosing needed and too much potential for stinky slush buildup. For a large coop I also think a raised floor is impractical - too much engineering required and too difficult to clean underneath. Anyway, that's just my experience of it.