Holy "Crap"...

[stargazingmommy]

definitely unholy what came out of her butt this morning. dang. the smell even drove the dog off and she normally eats it(if she doesn't get caught)

 

[mrpekinduck]

I've only had my ducks poop on me about 3 times and that's pretty good considering the fact that I take them for walks and hold them all the time! Even so I always put on junky clothes I don't care about when I take them for walks! My record of holding a duck until it poops is probably about 45min. Lots of people sell duck diapers so you can diaper them but then you have to change the diaper every hour or so. For Christmas I even got outfits for my ducks!

 

[Big Dreamer]

Ducks lack a certain muscle in their bum to control when they go. So there is no hope in potty training, haven't heard of the clicker thing before and don't know if it would work..You can always give it a try!

 

[jynxster]

DUCKS HAVE NO SPINCTER MUSCLE , THEREFORE NO CONTROL OVER WHEN THEY ARE GONNA POOP, in other words, THERE IS NO MUSCLE TO SLAM THE BACKDOOR SHUT, DOOR IS ALWAYS OPEN ........................LOL WEAR OLD CLOTHES

 

[GrannyCarol]

Duck poop, what are you talking about? My ducks NEVER poop!

 

[70%cocoa]

To stop my ducks getting in the chicken pen I put a barrier up that's about a foot high. It's just a bit of wood across the bottom of the door. The chickens hop over it easily but the ducks aren't interested in trying to climb over it. Maybe something like that will work for you

 

[cbohn80]

the best fix is have 2 separate pens. ducks are way to messy to be housed with chickens period. i let mine free range together in the yard but they know which pen to go to at night. it took a few weeks after i split them up for them to get it but my chickens are much happier and cleaner now.

 

[Tivona]

I have personally seen a potty trained finch (in a small town library) and a potty trained love bird who belonged to a friend. Both were taught to tell their owners they need to go and then sitting on the finger getting a dip over a waste paper basket they would let loose. I don't think that it would be as successful with ducks, but perhaps its still possible if someone spent a lot of time training a duck being very encouraging and consistent. According to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1262097/pdf/janat00171-0135.pdf ducks do have sphincter muscles. Not really sure if they function fully as ducks usually have fairly loose moist poop. So I have serious doubts on the successfulness of potty training ducks. Best I hope for is a chance to dodge, and the pen easy to rake.

I agree with cbohn80 on separate pens being the best solution though for your chicken happiness.

 

[kikidee]

I have only two cayuga drakes and they poop so much and HUGE mounds. Are there any food choices that can cause this to become lesser or not as thick? At certain points I actually have to clean the mud and dirt with a garden hose because it will start to smell and I don't want my ducks to create some bacterial disease or something xD

 

[chickschool]

Quote:
NOWAY! That is so cool! I have a cockatiel and although she rarely poops on my I bet she'd be smart enough to learn. As for my ducks...I agree I'm going to have to separate them. During the summer they had separate Coops and only because the ducks couldn't get up the ramp to the chicken coop but now that the snow is upon us I had to move them into a temporary coop (it's a shed with a large dog house inside) closer to the house so I could keep a heated water bowl plugged in. I think I'm going to try the barrier idea first because they love to be together and this way I wouldn't have to totally separate them. They always travel as a pack and have had since the time they were babies.