How to keep the duck coop clean!

[amberchickens]

Hi everyone, first time posting and first time chicken/duck/goose owner. We recently moved all our birds to their coops - chickens in one, waterfowl in the other. Chicken coop is a traditional coop. The coop I'm housing the ducks and geese in is like this and we had to make a few modifications to make it secure, but it's working out really well space-wise.

Here is where I've made a terrible mistake: There's no floor, just grass. I thought to myself, "This will be great! They'll have grass and lots of room and surely they won't make it as messy and disgusting as the brooder they were in. Duck people are probably laughing at me right now. It has become a horrendous, wet, poopy mess in just a few days.

So here's my question: What is the best way to deal with the current mess and how do I keep it clean-ish in the future? Pine shavings on the ground? Something else?

I absolutely adore the ducks and geese, but I have never met such messy creatures!

 

[indianaducks]

I've seen a variety of answers that help a bit but I don't know of any one single good answer to fix it. They are so so so messy. I'm also on the lookout for the magic unicorn answer to clean duck runs LOL.

 

[Isadora]

First off, how many ducks do you have in that pen? It's really not that large of a space so I feel it will be difficult to keep it dry.
I use rough cut wood chips in my duck houses with straw in the corners for nesting and that works great for me.
But they have a large outdoor area to go in and that's where I keep their food in water. No water in their house goes a long way to keeping things dry but if that kennel thing is the only thing your housing them in that's not really an option for you.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I agree with everything Isadora said.
Is this just for nighttime or 24/7? If just night, deep shavings work well. If 24/7, good luck. Also, you have no walls to keep rain out. You might consider tarping a side or two to stop that.

 

[fatty and friends]

is it for nighttime? if it is you 100% need to get a floor, a roof, hardware cloth on all the sides, and a safe lock.

for keeping it clean we use a mix of pine shavings and hemp bedding, then put nesting herbs on top. i clean it daily

 

[amberchickens]

First off, how many ducks do you have in that pen? It's really not that large of a space so I feel it will be difficult to keep it dry.
I use rough cut wood chips in my duck houses with straw in the corners for nesting and that works great for me.
But they have a large outdoor area to go in and that's where I keep their food in water. No water in their house goes a long way to keeping things dry but if that kennel thing is the only thing your housing them in that's not really an option for you.

6 ducks, 2 geese. I think the pen is 6’x9’ and they will be free ranging part time as of next week. Would you recommend keeping their food and water outside once they’re allowed out during the day?

 

[amberchickens]

I agree with everything Isadora said.
Is this just for nighttime or 24/7? If just night, deep shavings work well. If 24/7, good luck. Also, you have no walls to keep rain out. You might consider tarping a side or two to stop that.

Just for night time, so I’ll try the shavings, thanks! It does have a top tarp. Does it matter which sides I tarp?

 

[Isadora]

6 ducks, 2 geese. I think the pen is 6’x9’ and they will be free ranging part time as of next week. Would you recommend keeping their food and water outside once they’re allowed out during the day?

Absolutely! If you had a free-ranging setup where other animals could get into the feed I would take away the food at night.

 

[amberchickens]

is it for nighttime? if it is you 100% need to get a floor, a roof, hardware cloth on all the sides, and a safe lock.

for keeping it clean we use a mix of pine shavings and hemp bedding, then put nesting herbs on top. i clean it daily

Yes, for night time. Totally agree…we have already had to make modifications to the wire and door to make it more secure. My well-meaning cattle dog has been breaking in to show us all its weaknesses.

I’ll try bedding and daily cleaning. Thank you!

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Everyone here pretty much covered everything. I just wanted to add that I have been really loving pine pellets for my ducks. They break down when wet so you don't end up with a water logged pile of bedding. I rake everything once a day to mix up the broken down pellets and anything that's even slightly damp dries out very quickly after a quick rake. I also ordered what are technically cat litter boxes off of chewy.com and I set 2 gallon water buckets that I got from tractor supply in them. They catch quite a bit of the water that would otherwise end up on the ground.