Holy "Crap"...

[nettie]

I've only ever known one duck who would poop on command (Her name is Skeeter, and she's a 9 year old house duck!) she still poops whenever, but she can go on command when her daddy tells her too. I think there's a video on youtube.

As for diapers, they really are only good for indoor use, as they can get pretty dirty on the outside. From someone who diapers her ducks, I don't ever diaper them over night or for long stints. I only let them wear their diaps for maybe 2-4 hours at a time before changing them. Some people do diaper them over night, but you'd have to take away food/water for the evening and you'd still have a mess in the diaper to clean.

For my duckies, I made them a sleeping pen out of corrugated plastic and duct tape. It wipes clean and I put pelleted pine bedding in it. With four ducks, I change the bedding once a week. That way they can poop at will. You may want to think about making them a little sleeper pen out of corrugated plastic inside of your coop to keep the mess down.

I made my sleep pen for about $60 worth of supplies, and a night of cutting/taping. It's really easy to cut and duct tape holds it together nicely. My old one evern had a little door.

 

[chickschool]

Quote:
Oh trust me...my butt is out there everyday cleaning off the top layer of litter and putting down fresh. Sometimes twice a day because it gets cold and wet due to the snow and since they don't roost they have no other option but to sleep on top of it. The coop they are in right now isn't large enough to do the "deep litter system". I researched that last year but it seems gross to me.

I thought it would be gross also, but I've been thrilled with it.
I'm even starting to get excited to do a deep clean out come spring to stick it in my compost bin.
My chickens don't stink. That was the biggest thing for me, since I live in the city and have neighbors. We accidentally started this in the attached run(its covered and in the shed) also. The run was just dirt(the birds free range almost all day and only get locked in at night). But, bad weather hit and the ducks moved in, and I had to throw something down to help contain the mess. So, a couple layers of pine shavings with straw on top and all is good and my containment areas don't smell.
I went digging through the bedding in the coop looking for the missing eggs the broody hen was sitting on(never found them), and was thrilled at the amount of composting in the lower layers and the heat being put off(the eggs must have been toasty warm having heat from above and below)

Could you please tell me more about how your doing it? It sounds like you have run into the exact same situation I did. Love the ducks while free ranging but then realized how stinky and messy they are when they are in a smaller confined area. How often do you put down new bedding/straw and how much? Right now when I clean out the coop I put down a pretty tick layer of new litter. I didn't think about the heat factor which sound like a really good idea. I'm just worried about how thick it's going to get between now and April.

 

[stargazingmommy]

Quote:
I thought it would be gross also, but I've been thrilled with it.
I'm even starting to get excited to do a deep clean out come spring to stick it in my compost bin.
My chickens don't stink. That was the biggest thing for me, since I live in the city and have neighbors. We accidentally started this in the attached run(its covered and in the shed) also. The run was just dirt(the birds free range almost all day and only get locked in at night). But, bad weather hit and the ducks moved in, and I had to throw something down to help contain the mess. So, a couple layers of pine shavings with straw on top and all is good and my containment areas don't smell.
I went digging through the bedding in the coop looking for the missing eggs the broody hen was sitting on(never found them), and was thrilled at the amount of composting in the lower layers and the heat being put off(the eggs must have been toasty warm having heat from above and below)

Could you please tell me more about how your doing it? It sounds like you have run into the exact same situation I did. Love the ducks while free ranging but then realized how stinky and messy they are when they are in a smaller confined area. How often do you put down new bedding/straw and how much? Right now when I clean out the coop I put down a pretty tick layer of new litter. I didn't think about the heat factor which sound like a really good idea. I'm just worried about how thick it's going to get between now and April.

I just throw down a new layer every week, maybe an inch, just straw right now. There really isn't much smell this way.
My chicken run was just dirt, but thats where the ducks hang out at night, so I started adding straw to that. I don't spread it out when I toss it in, I leave it in a pile and they spread it out nicely.

 

[chickschool]

Ok. I haven't used straw before. Usually it's pine shavings. I never realized how much duck poop smells until now.

They free range all day but until the snow started flying and they were now in a more confined area...well...now I know.

Does the straw soak up the moisture? They track in the snow which melts and sometimes turns icy. I worry about the chickens or ducks feet freezing. I know that the ducks have natures waterproofing but the chickens do not.

 

[stargazingmommy]

its hard to tell, I do have a dirt floor with a layer of pine and pine on top, but I haven't noticed moisture sitting on the straw

 

[chickschool]

Quote:
That's a really great idea too.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

I place a used-by-humans towel on my lap when holding ducks. Any messes get rinsed off with a hose, then the towel gets the detergent and bleach treatment in the washer.

Might not be an option for those with finer sensibilities, but hey, I'm a guy.

 

[newbyduckmom]

Quote:
I have one hen that is an artist....if I don't get out to let them out early enough, I have a masterpiece all over the walls of the duck house - up about 8 inches! Honesty, I think she aims and shoots!