Gravel for duck house?

[Oddyse]

Hey guys, was just wondering if this would be ok for my duck house. Not sure if it will hurt there feet or not. Feel free to have a look around the website if you dont think these are any good and see if you find something more suitable. Many thanks guys, link below.

http://www.mainlandaggregates.co.uk/products/20mm-Peak-Pebbles-Supplie.asp?image=20mm Peak Pebbles.jpg

 

[jdywntr]

I have read small pebbles are better. No chips. Sharp edges=cuts=foot problems. I have seen where people put large pebbles but they say the ducks don't like them. When deciding if it will work I remember reading: walk on it barefoot, if it is uncomfortable for you, it will be for the ducks.
On the website I'd go with the decorative pebbles maybe cobbles depending on size. Or you could put down gravel and cover it in a few inches of sand. Oh poo, metric um, okay 1 inch X 2.54 cm so about 7.62 cm of sand on top.

 

[TLWR]

Our duck yard is pea stone. It was the dog yard before we fenced the back 4 acres for them instead.

 

[Oddyse]

I was going to go with some kind of pea shingle, if the stones are small would the ducks not eat them and possibly choke on them? That was why I was going to go with the bigger ones. Sand isnt really a good idea here, we get loads of rain in England ( our summer consisted of 3 hours of sunshine!) so it would be wet all the time. My main concern was them choking on the smaller stones though, would this be a problem?

 

[LemonDoodles]

Top it with pine needles. Works wonderfully.

 

[cooprunbuilder]

I also live in the UK I use pea gravel in one of my campbell enclosures, because of the rain I put a roof on the run so the gravel wont get as wet, but the best thing for ducks really is mud and grass

I can see what you mean about the bigger pebbles but once they have picked the pebbles up once and realised they dont taste nice they will ignore them after that so smaller one are better.

 

[RunnerWhisperer]

We have certain parts of our yard that we have used pea gravel in. The ducks do pick up the rocks but drop them back down. They walk on it fine and it's good fix to muddy problem areas!

 

[BallardDuck]

I put a french drain through the center of my run. I then topped it with a few inches of sand, then a couple inches of mixed pea gravel and regular washed gravel (rounded smooth type).
The ducks play around with the stones but haven't had any problems yet. I imagine if they wanted to eat a rock they would find it even in garden soil. The best part is that it cleans up pretty much with just a directed spray from the hose which I do every other day when I'm cleaning the swim pond.

 

[RunnerWhisperer]

Quote:
That's a great way to make clean up a snap!! If I ever move, I will have to take this idea from you and use it too!!! I am a total clean freak!! My home, my yard, my kids, my animals...all are kept clean! A labor of love!! But I am game for a good set up that my take more money and time to make it easy to keep clean!!

 

[Oddyse]

The only thing is, I used some standard size stones to fill a hole they dug in the edge the of their run. And I see one of them actually eating them! Well he puts the stone in his mouth and they dont come out, then he puts another in, and that dissapears too! He still poops ok so it cant be doing any damage. But it concerns me is all