Guernsy
Songster
- Jun 5, 2020
- 118
- 215
- 116
Hello
I have 10 chickens and 4 ducks. Two of the ducks are 6 week old pekings that are very large already. They seem to be hungry all day long.
The other two ducks are black runners are do not share the same coop with the Pekings.
I read in my research to use straw as bedding for the ducks and that the coop should be cleaned about once a week. The ducks do not have water nor food in the coop at night. They roam around the garden all day and get a meal of veggies an 1-2 hours before they turn in to bed around 7 or 8pm. However, every morning when I let them out around 8am. The coop stinks so bad because the two Pekings pooped all night. How is that even possible? I feel like I have to clean the coop every day, which I was hoping to avoid. The duck coop has a lot of ventilation and actually could dry out easily, however, it still stinks in the late afternoon so I end up cleaning it. Some of their poop is huge (sorry to talk so much about poop), almost as big as my dog's poop. Wondering, if that is normal too. Also, it seems that their poop consistency changes depending on how much water/dirt they eat (they get their water muddy very fast).
My 4 week old runners do not poop like that. Not even close.
So, I guess my biggest question here is, how to keep them from pooping that much overnight? I have read from other Peking owners that their coops are clean for over a week. How do you accomplish that? Do I just have funny ducks or should I not feed them that late (they do get kind of angry with me, if they don't get food though, lol).
Anyway, I am new here and appreciate your help.
Thanks,
I have 10 chickens and 4 ducks. Two of the ducks are 6 week old pekings that are very large already. They seem to be hungry all day long.
The other two ducks are black runners are do not share the same coop with the Pekings.
I read in my research to use straw as bedding for the ducks and that the coop should be cleaned about once a week. The ducks do not have water nor food in the coop at night. They roam around the garden all day and get a meal of veggies an 1-2 hours before they turn in to bed around 7 or 8pm. However, every morning when I let them out around 8am. The coop stinks so bad because the two Pekings pooped all night. How is that even possible? I feel like I have to clean the coop every day, which I was hoping to avoid. The duck coop has a lot of ventilation and actually could dry out easily, however, it still stinks in the late afternoon so I end up cleaning it. Some of their poop is huge (sorry to talk so much about poop), almost as big as my dog's poop. Wondering, if that is normal too. Also, it seems that their poop consistency changes depending on how much water/dirt they eat (they get their water muddy very fast).
My 4 week old runners do not poop like that. Not even close.
So, I guess my biggest question here is, how to keep them from pooping that much overnight? I have read from other Peking owners that their coops are clean for over a week. How do you accomplish that? Do I just have funny ducks or should I not feed them that late (they do get kind of angry with me, if they don't get food though, lol).
Anyway, I am new here and appreciate your help.
Thanks,