how much does duck poo smell?!

[MarieNC]

I have to wash down their run (gravel) and empty their pools every single day, otherwise it's out of control. It continues to amaze me how much 4 ducks can poop in a 24 hour period. When they were babies and I had them in the house, I was dumping out their pine shavings every day. It was impossible to keep it clean from the poop and the water everywhere. They require much more daily care than my 6 chickens, that's for sure! The ducks are hilarious, though. They love, love, love their clean pools!

 

[Red Squirrel]

You have probably seen me post this before, but thought maybe a few BYC'ers might have missed it. Hope it helps some of you out there.

In my coop, I use Equine Pellets on the floor. It absorbs water from messy ducks, moisture from poop, and there is absolutely NO SMELL WHATSOEVER. When it gets wet it breaks down into a substance that reminds me of what wet saw dust would look like. It's easy to remove poop since the poop is dry and covered with the pellet dust. At Rural King a bag of Equine Pellets runs me about $5.00 for a 40lb bag. My coop measures 4' x 6'. I use two bags for a month, removing areas that look like wet saw dust, even though it is dry, and poop on a daily basis.

In my run, I have pea gravel which makes that job easy..all I do is use the "Sprinkle" notch on my hose, aim it, and the poop washes away.

The Equine pullets sound good. Do the chickens or ducks eat the pellets? just curious. thanks

 

[Kaessa]

The Equine pullets sound good. Do the chickens or ducks eat the pellets? just curious. thanks

I know it's a typo, but "equine pullets" made me laugh.

 

[Skyfire]

My gosling eats mostly grass during the day. She also eats waterfowl starter pellets, but has a very strong preference for grass. I haven't found a recommended treat she likes yet. She is limited to just the pellets and water at night when she goes to her bed.

When she is just eating grass grit and water, her poops are well formed and don't smell like anything. In the morning after she has been limited to the pellets, her poops are eye watering smelly and much more liquid. I know ducks need much more protein than geese. I wonder if it's the protein that makes the poop so......fragrant.

 

[rickwiner]

I have 5 chickens - love them and was thinking of adding a couple of ducks - GLAD I checked here - no ducks for me as I think my wife would have me living in the coop cleaning up after them every hour. Until I found PDZ in the spring (very wet spring) I had a complaining wife.

 

[stuka123]

I started using PDZ Stall Refresher under their bedding and that helps a lot. We also have a fan blowing down on their sleep area 24/7. I'm gonna give those pellets a try.

 

[Kimmyh51]

I just switched my coops over to sand. This will allow the water to drain through and then I can rake the poo off the top. The smelliest part is the waterer. They eat and dunk their bills still full of food and then splash it all over. You may want to look into "nipple waterers" on here.

This is sand in a ducks ‘coop’? Not chicken coop? How is it working for you and what type of climate are you in?(ie humid/dry, hot/temperate/cold). I tried sand once and ended up with wet runs and cold uncomfortable ducks. Maybe it works better in a drier hitter climate? I live in a ‘temperate’ climate, where the average high temperature in spring is around 15-20 (59-68) and low is 7- 14 (44-57F)
And summer is daily highs of between 20 - 35 (68-95F) with a mix of dry days and wet days. Maybe if it were hot and dry all the time it works better, or maybe I was doing something wrong when I tried it?

 

[Flockincrazy]

im just worried about my mom freaking out about the stench, anyone got any tips on how to keep the smell down?

Make sure you keep the water clean and it won't be so bad