LadyIsadora
Songster
Perhaps the best advise I have gotten so far in keeping their pen clean is:
to put their water on top of a plastic or metal grate. Metal will rust quickly, but I did not have plastic that I thought suitable. Figure out where you want the water to be, set your water receptacle down, measure & dig around it up to 30 inches out and a foot or two deep. ( I only went about 6 x 12 out and it could be better) Line the bottom with rocks and or sand, some people put a tarp or some such other business in there for easy cleaning,
I personally do not see how putting a tarp down, making it the equivalent of a cesspool, makes this pit easier to clean. I am hoping mine will have enough drainage that it wont be a problem. I spray it down with vinegar to deter anything from breeding down in there, but I guess the ducks would just eat whatever as soon as it tried to come above ground, IDK this is untested for me. but I know myself well enough to know Im not going to dredge it out very dang often, if ever. I keep a spray bottle of vinegar, some salad tongs, three prong rake etc hanging on the chain link of their coop by S hooks This is convenient & clean and should be all I need. I hope. Rambling over LOL
Anyway, I build a frame out of 2x4, added center 2x4 for support, screwed my metal grate to it and set it on top of the hole. Setting the frame in so the surface was even with the ground around it. Their water and food sit right on top of that. The straw from the pen gets on it and has to be cleaned up daily when I clean up the poop. They poop a lot when they eat & drink I have to scrape it down & spray it daily to keep the holes clear & draining. SO FAR it has worked BEAUTIFULLY. They have no mud in their pen.
I should mention here that this is my first time with ducks. They have only been in the pen for just over 4 weeks. And it is early spring. My success/ opinions on this may change with the seasons or size of the flock. Perhaps in the summer it will become an incubator for maggots. Perhaps it will fill up & freeze solid next winter. I do not know. Im hoping the vinegar will prevent that. In any case It is not that hard to lift the frame & dig it out again. For now I am comfortably happy with it.
to put their water on top of a plastic or metal grate. Metal will rust quickly, but I did not have plastic that I thought suitable. Figure out where you want the water to be, set your water receptacle down, measure & dig around it up to 30 inches out and a foot or two deep. ( I only went about 6 x 12 out and it could be better) Line the bottom with rocks and or sand, some people put a tarp or some such other business in there for easy cleaning,
I personally do not see how putting a tarp down, making it the equivalent of a cesspool, makes this pit easier to clean. I am hoping mine will have enough drainage that it wont be a problem. I spray it down with vinegar to deter anything from breeding down in there, but I guess the ducks would just eat whatever as soon as it tried to come above ground, IDK this is untested for me. but I know myself well enough to know Im not going to dredge it out very dang often, if ever. I keep a spray bottle of vinegar, some salad tongs, three prong rake etc hanging on the chain link of their coop by S hooks This is convenient & clean and should be all I need. I hope. Rambling over LOL
Anyway, I build a frame out of 2x4, added center 2x4 for support, screwed my metal grate to it and set it on top of the hole. Setting the frame in so the surface was even with the ground around it. Their water and food sit right on top of that. The straw from the pen gets on it and has to be cleaned up daily when I clean up the poop. They poop a lot when they eat & drink I have to scrape it down & spray it daily to keep the holes clear & draining. SO FAR it has worked BEAUTIFULLY. They have no mud in their pen.
I should mention here that this is my first time with ducks. They have only been in the pen for just over 4 weeks. And it is early spring. My success/ opinions on this may change with the seasons or size of the flock. Perhaps in the summer it will become an incubator for maggots. Perhaps it will fill up & freeze solid next winter. I do not know. Im hoping the vinegar will prevent that. In any case It is not that hard to lift the frame & dig it out again. For now I am comfortably happy with it.