Holy cow, do ducklings poo a lot or what?

[savingdogs]

I realize this is a disgusting subject, but I'm having trouble managing and I'm wondering what duck experts do.

I have 17 ducklings (2 months old) that have now moved outdoors as it is warm enough and I have them in a decent sized pen. But they poo an amazing amount! I'm having to hose off the area so frequently that the area downhill of the duck pen is a swamp! And when I hose it off, they drink the disgusting water! Is that going to hurt them? They seem to prefer the muddy poo puddles to drink from instead of the clean water I have for them.
How much bacteria do they tolerate? If I let any time go by, their pen floor becomes a solid mass of stamped down poo. And I live in a rainy climate, so it is hard to get rid of the mud puddles in their enclosure. I've tried shavings and pellets and both seem to just get saturated within an hour. So I just have them on the bare grass which is quickly turning to dirt of course.

Do they need a huge pen because of how much they poo? I'm eventually going to have seven (four cayuga and three muscovy) so how large should our pen be? We are using a moveable fencing arrangement. Do I have too much poo because the space is too small or do ducks just poop alot?

 

[eenie114]

No worries, muddy water won't hurt them. I won't mention where mine like to drink...

 

[deeszoo]

Ducks seemed to love muck. And the yuckier the better! LOL!! You could put sand on the bottom of the pen, but you would need it to be pretty deep, or they will drill right on through. They can handle a LOT of bacteria.

 

[savingdogs]

They are exposing my chickens to some of this bacteria laden water as well, do you guys know how chickens can handle the duck poop water? I should have put that in my original post.

 

[Amiga]

If you want to avoid a muddy, poopy mess, you need more space per duck, as well as good drainage. Try to remember that their waste is a plant fertilizer! I have been pouring poopy water on my gardens and the gardens are thriving.

You need to think about how to collect the waste. Many people use straw or shavings, and then transfer the dirty material to their compost piles where it becomes an excellent soil amendment. It requires some labor, but it saves money for gardening.

Storey's Guide recommends (this is from memory, forgive me and verify this) 25 square feet per bird for an enclosure that they stay in all the time. Ten square feet if you let them out on pasture (or in my case, in gardens).

The chickens will probably have a hard time with the muddy water - they need a water source that is clean, where the ducks cannot get at it.

Areas around their waterers may need to be covered in a few to several inches of pea gravel.

One concept is to have their waterers at the downhill section of the run, on gravel that goes under the fence, and into a small (max. nine inch deep) depression filled with leaves, straw or other high-carbon material. Then periodically that material can be loaded onto a compost pile.

If you don't have gardens, find an avid gardener or three. They will probably bless you for the nutrients.

 

[savingdogs]

25 square feet per bird ......my goodness. No wonder I have too much poop. I need a much bigger pen!

Last night I managed to route the water away from the chicken area for now at least. I live on a steep sloped hill and I did not account for having to wash the area down so frequently.

I like the pea gravel idea around the waterer. Amiga you are always full of great ideas, I need this kind of advice. I've been avoiding using an area with gravel, thinking it would hurt their feet. Does it have to be solid pea gravel or do you think just the top layer is okay?

I do plan a garden, but uphill from the duck area. The area getting fertilised currently is dense blackberries which I hope it kills! Unfortunately think it will make it thrive. While this will probably make our goats happy it wasn't what we had in mind. It does sound a bit labor intensive to bring wet duck goo back up the hill, I need a way to make it dry out and be lighter.

 

[Amiga]

Pea gravel comes in different forms - some like M&Ms some much more coarse. You might find a combo of pea gravel and sometime just a little larger, on the smooth side, works out.

As for wanting watery poo to flow uphill, well, laws of physics are against us on that!

Hmmmm. You may want to have some carbon-heavy material (leaves, hay, straw, sawdust, whatever) on the down hill side in an area where it will soak up the nutrients (a.k.a. poop). Then haul it in a wheelbarrow up the hill. I know, too labor intensive.

Or . . . . and this is beginning to get into the engineering realm (which is neat if you have a geeky streak like yours truly), if you have a collection area (i.e. tank) for the wet mess, before it sits long you might be able to use a pump (check with Wifezilla - she has done some serious pump research) a la septic system to send the slurry up to the garden area. Note: First thing you do is make some kind of barrier so it does not just slide back into the duck run! Gag!

To do this you'd need a fenced area - you would be amazed and who and what will fall into the nasty tank of slurry - with a stable container - not too large - for the poop. You'd need some kind of pump, some pipe (make sure it can stand some pressure!), and loads of labor to set it up correctly. Makes hauling compost up the hill in a wheelbarrow sound really good to me!

Or take the long view and do something about the bramble at the bottom of the hill and get your gardens in there, where the whole system would be more sustainable.

If the ducks would take a vacation from making waste, the manure would eventually dry and be lighter. But when is that going to happen?

Those are my thoughts at the moment. There is probably a much more elegant solution that I am missing here.

 

[savingdogs]

After reading your post, we have decided to give them a much larger area. It means having them share an area with the chickens, but they would each have their own "house". So far they are eating different food so we may have to take it in stages, but we are thinking of having more of a "duck tractor" concept with the ducks, so their area is moved around a bit from time to time. That would give it a chance to dry out (as much as that happens in western washington) for manipulation of the duck ooze.

Shouldn't you let something like that age awhile before putting it on plants? And I was thinking that the bacteria level would be so high to put onto plants we might be consuming.

Moving the leaves around sounds quite feasible actually because leaves are already there......still labor intensive like you said, but living here on this hill is good exercise! And leaves would not be sitting on the actual plant like water might.

 

[Amiga]

If the slurry is wet enough, it ought not to burn the plants. What I use has the consistency of a thin soup, not gravy. I wrote "ought," but I know it doesn't harm the plants I have been putting it on. Most of the plants are mulched with straw, but not all are. Chicken waste has a reputation for burning plants, but I have not seen a problem with duck droppings. I have put it on lilies, daylilies, sunroot (Helianthus tuberosus), hosta, garlic, hazelnut, asparagus, rhubarb, horseradish blueberries and raspberries.

Also, I didn't mention something I suppose I take for granted that everyone knows (I apologize). One does not harvest very soon after applying manure. If you plant to pick a salad tonight, today would not be the day to fertigate with the slurry. How long to wait will be a matter of debate, so I would say use your best judgment. There are tables somewhere with recommended waiting times between fertilizing with manure and harvest. Local extension services can probably make recommendations, too.

 

[Red Maple Farms]

It is common practice in commercial operations to water the ducklings where good drainage is available. What we started doing was constructing outside feeding/watering stations that they can freely access from their indoor brooder. This limits the amount of ammonia that is generated inside the coop, and the duckings stay cleaner. This can be applied to adult ducks too.