How to keep ducks and their pen mud free during winter.

[Miss Lydia]

m.kitchengirl :

I have not had any problems with wetness since I added pea gravel in the run part of my duck enclosure & sand in the house area. It has done wonders.
I find it pretty easy to just rake off the straw layer and haven't had too much pea gravel work its way into the compost. I rake the pea gravel around, rinse with the hose, rake & rinse again. Pretty easy.
My ducks nibbled the gravel & found it was just rocks. They haven't gorged themselves on it.

Thanks I really think that the pea gravel is the only option I have now before the ice and snow hit. It's so yucky out there ,do they root around in it to get to the dirt under neath? how thick is it?​

 

[grawg]

Just a tip I read somewhere on here about using pea gravel ML. Put some sort of underlay below it. I think the poster said they used weed barrier landscape cloth. If you don't do this the gravel will sink through into the mud pretty fast and you will be left with mud over pea gravel.

I can speak from personal experience on this as part of our front yard used to be gravel until the mud "flowed" over it. So now if I dig there I hit a layer of gravel 2-3" below the dirt.

 

[Angeljim95]

Quote:
This would work if inside a penned area but I'm talking a pretty large outdoor area , it wouldn't work for me. Thanks for the input though.

How big is big?

mine are in a 20 by 35 pen

 

[mominoz]

I have pond rock(larger than pea gravel ) in my aviary and 2 mini duck pens. I just hose it down, it is on a slope so it just goes downhill into the pine forest area. Mine hasn't "sunk" in 2 years, but the poo can build up making it look sunken!!!It sometimes slids a bit downhill because it is on a slope, so I occasionally rake it up hill a bit. If I had it to do again in a roofed building, I'd put cement down, then the gravel so I wouldn't have to rake and the cracks wouldn't fill in with poo,hence the hosing needed.

 

[m.kitchengirl]

It's so yucky out there ,do they root around in it to get to the dirt under neath? how thick is it?

The bottom of my run is 1/4" hardware cloth. Most of the yuck rinses through, especially when I rake it around 2 or 3 times while I spray.
When I do the new coop/run set up next spring I think I will use an apron of hardware cloth, and pea gravel with landscaping cloth underneath. That may be a faster solution for you with weather coming.

Even between sprayings (we all know how fast they make everything

) they don't seem to root around in the gravel at all, really. They did some the first day, realized it didn't taste good, and quit.
I put a thin layer of hay over it on cold days, and it is VERY easy to rake off & clean as usual.

Everything stays much drier in there since I added the gravel. I resisted for a while, but figured it couldn't be WORSE than the muck.​

 

[robin127]

I set shipping pallets on the ground on either side of the wading pool. the ducks can swim but when they get out they don't spread mud all over because they drip dry onto the pallets. It is still wet under the pallets but the rest of the 20' x 20' enclosure stays fairly clean and dry. Note some pallets have wide gaps and others are more narrow between boards and safer for ducky feet.

 

[Hunter0704]

In my 12 x 6 run I have hardware cloth, then landscape cloth, then 1 yard of pea gravel on top. This is the only way I have found to keep pea gravel, or any gravel for that matter, from combining with dirt and turning into mud. I therefore, have no water problems with my ducks. At least four times a day I dump their dirty drinking water, through the pea gravel which drys quickly. When the weather isn't freezing, I can clean the run simply by hosing it down...the poop disentigrates and flows away. HOWEVER, now that the weather has turned cold and my hose is frozen, I have been adding straw to the run and lots of it. When we get a day warmer than 32 degrees, I will rake up the soiled straw and replace it with new straw, thick enough to keep them from walking on frozen gravel and getting possible frostbite.

 

[Neverenuff]

I have a 10 x 10 run with a house in the run.. they also go out into a 50 x 50 yard during the day.. This is my set up I have concrete pavers in 3/4 of the run the rest is just dirt with straw or shavings on top a mixture. I left some of it not paved so they could get in their mud digging. Behind the run I dug a trench so that when I hose it off the yucko poo and mud just drains off to the trench that is dug down it does need to be demucked a few times a year and re dug.. this also is a fun place for them to play in when they are in the big yard. The Kiddy pool is on top of the pavers.. In the winter I put straw down on the pavers since the hose is frozen. It works for me I have never had any issues with bumble foot or any feet issues. They stay dry for the most part and I am happy to not have to deal with the mud.


Jamie

 

[mandelyn]

Pea gravel is wonderful! We have some serious drainage issues so after a good rain they get let out to play in it, some of the puddles are 4 inches deep! They get their fill on pulling weeds and slinging mud, then they go inside the run and rinse off in the pool, and they're clean again.

For the winter I'm throwing pine straw on top, it doesn't break down as fast as yellow straw, and it repels water, so when I hose it off on freak warm days, it acts like the rock and sends the water on through without getting soggy.

Landscape cloth is under it... I'm surprised the wet ground back there hasn't swallowed the whole coop. I swear there is an underground creek or something. If we dig a hole for a fence post, at the 2 ft mark it starts filling with water. The gravel would sink for sure.

 

[jynxster]

I thought bark and wood shavings was considered unsafe as teh ducks could ingest it? Im not sure, In a a new duck owner and love the 2 new babies. I live in the mountains of souther calif, the temp does drop below freezing at night typically. Im using straw on the ground, a thin layer and just add a little more every other day, so far so good but I also realize I will maybe have snow 2 or 3 days a year and it typically sticks about a day. So the harsh winters with ducks is a delimna. pea gravel soounds good. Do you have the ducks heat lamps or anything like that? Im curious. I spoke with a vet here and he said I have to bring them in at night or provide a heat lamp. They are 2 monbths old fully feathered and eating healthy.