General coop cleaning and duck questions

[CoriM]

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Dryer is always better but I would think you're generally ok to have moisture in their run. After all, they are waterfowl. As long as the area is generally clean and they have a chance to dry out (like in the coop) you should be fine. Bumblefoot is likely when the area is not clean and they get a cut on their foot causing a foot infection. A lot of people use sand in the run since it drains freely and is easier to keep mostly dry, plus they can hose it off and drain away waste for easy cleaning. If it were building a coop and run from scratch, I would use a gravel base with sand on top. My run area is next to my garden and I just added a fence made of vinyl coated garden fencing and PVC hoops to pop up a net for hawk protection. The ground is mostly the way I found it, black landscaping fabric with dirt on top, and pine bark mulch on top of that. I've been adding weeds for them to eat and there is quite a bit of vegetation that has dried out and formed brown material on the ground. Now that it is getting cold and less moisture is evaporating it has been wetter in their run. So I'll need to do some modifications. I'll probably be adding sand but I'll have to think on the design a bit before I commit to purchasing materials.

I'd love to see a photo of your set up. I have been thinking of planting grass out front of my run/coop with some sort of fence/netting for protection so they can go out more often for foraging without my constant supervision.

 

[MerryMeridional]

@CoriM
My setup isn't particularly glamorous. I mostly used materials that I had on hand but still had to buy hardware cloth (which is kinda $$ in my opinion) and a net for the top of the run. The pictures of the coop are from when I just finished it (I love the duckies but man was I ready to get them out of my house), so my garden hadn't grown up and I wasn't finished covering the run area in the coop pic. There are currently no waterers set up inside, the lamps are put away, and they have 2 50gal rubbermaid bins with entry holes cut out of the lids for nest boxes.
Currently in their run I have an elevated tub (got that off facebook marketplace for free) which doubles as a place to hang out underneath during the day, and a simple plastic shelf to put their feed buckets of fermented feed on. The feed may need to be moved now that the temps are getting colder, which I think will effect the fermentation process. I made a gravity waterer with a 3gal rubberized feed tub and a food safe 5 gallon bucket. I also have trimmed and properly attached the PVC along the top since this picture was taken. It's too dark to get a picture of what it currently looks like but this picture is very near the finish. I bought a spray can of dark green paint to paint the PVC (aesthetics and UV protection) and little gate, then I think I'll call the structure DONE.

As with most of my projects, they morph over time. I won't be happy with the performance of one thing or another and do some reading before upgrading, or find a way to make something look more tidy. I'm a fiddler

 

[CoriM]

@MerryM, Wow, that looks great. I love how much indoor space you have! I see you have electricity. My husband just ordered the wire to bring it to our coop. I don't know if i really need it, but I am thinking of putting a sweeter heater in our enclosed coop area, and lights outside. I also ferment whole grains, and though it's more laborious, love that it stretches their feed.

 

[MerryMeridional]

@CoriM That all sounds great! I just run an extension cord out there if I need power for something. I would love to sink a wire underground but have already managed to hit a few underground irrigation lines that I had to repair. So no more digging of holes for me. I don't know where you live but ducks are pretty hardy little creatures and generally don't need extra heat in the winter. I had two heat lamps for when they were babies but unless we get to the negatives I'm not worrying about it.

 

[DucksOhio]

I'm about to have a huge run but regardless I just throw the used hay out there if I don't need it for mulch in the garden and it makes nice and soft for their feet. I don't think it matters much as far as it being wet when it's outside. Its the inside the coop where they sleep that can mold and be bad for them so I make sure that isn't happening.

My husband is all about overkill so here is the new section of our run. You can see the welded wire to the top. He didn't want to ever see me holding a dead duck in my arms wailing away again. We are in phase II of this project right now and will probably have most of it covered by this weekend.
View attachment 1917453 This is phase II and there will be phase III after this is done. Their pens are on the left side of the barn where you can see the opening. We'll be putting a tin roof over the part that is open. Huge right!
View attachment 1917454

That looks like duckie heaven!