Ideas to Upgrade the Coop

[Chickerywitchery]

I wanted to get other opinions on the welfare of ducks and geese having access to a swimmable pool inside their enclosure at night, plus overall if changing the bedding to pea gravel would work for cutting down on the gross.

During the day they have a 3-acre pond and are able to free range, but are cooped at night since I'm trying to teach the girls to lay eggs inside the shelter. Total we have 5 Pekin ducks and 4 African geese.

The enclosure is 7ft by 14ft, partially covered. Half of the enclosure is concrete pavers since we had a fly problem (more like invasion that all the fly bags in the world couldn't fix) and the other half is soft bedding that I'm considering switching for pea gravel because that is where the kiddie pool is and of course, more mud and flies.

I'll attach pictures of the first pool, which I've since learned is too large for me to keep properly clean to use for their water bowl too.
And then the pool I've switched it for so I can scrub it daily for clean water at night.
(Please don't judge the pictures too harshly, time was not on my side adding bedding in the 2nd pic lol)

Any tips or ideas are appreciated

 

[Miss Lydia]

Your a brave soul having a pool in their enclosure no way I’d do it. I do have pavers under my outside pools though and really like them. Also if you put pea gravel down they will kneed them into whatever is under the gravel.

 

[indianaducks]

I love your setup. But in answer to your question, I do NOT keep swimming water available at night because it is a HUGE muddy disaster. Only time I keep swimming water is if we're gone for a few days and they have to stay locked up (we have someone keep them fed and watered but they stay locked up).

 

[3bird]

Agreed with the two posts above. No need for swimming water overnight. Our predator proof run is 16'x8' with an attached duckhouse. The only water they have in there is a five-gallon bucket in the run (never in the duckhouse) so they can dunk their heads. Our run is fully covered and we use pine shavings and straw over dirt for the bedding. Works great with daily spot cleaning (2x/day) and once a year clean-out. We do use pavers under the water bucket.

 

[Chickerywitchery]

Thank you all for the replies! The water is solely for drinking water since it's the only way to keep enough for everyone overnight. They drain any bucket I put in there so the next step was a kiddie pool.

I'm going to try the gravel around 2 inches thick around the water with a rock border. Then fill the rest back with bedding. Hopefully it'll stay clean..ish.. longer

 

[indianaducks]

If you take away food at night, they may not drain a bucket. I mean, really you just need nighttime water if they have nighttime food. I am just paranoid when its 1000000 degrees out otherwise, they don't get nighttime water.

 

[indianaducks]

Also, I learned that pea gravel is way too hard to keep clean. But it might work for you? It just sort of collected the poop and then I had rocky poopy yuck.

 

[Chickerywitchery]

If you take away food at night, they may not drain a bucket. I mean, really you just need nighttime water if they have nighttime food. I am just paranoid when its 1000000 degrees out otherwise, they don't get nighttime water.

The only time they get pellet food is bedtime, during the day they forage so that's why the water quantity is extreme.
Our nighttime temps have been 90s also with high humidity so I'd worry too much

 

[Chickerywitchery]

Also, I learned that pea gravel is way too hard to keep clean. But it might work for you? It just sort of collected the poop and then I had rocky poopy yuck.

I have a garden hose to wash it off like the pavers just fingers crossed it'll work

 

[wareagle044]

I keep 3 five gallon watererers in the pen at night and have that area covered in a couple of layers of River Rock which does a good job limiting the mud and is large enough that they can’t pick it up and put into the watering dispensers for the most part. That area attracts a lot of crickets and I have some dim Solar LED lights on the inside of the pen that attract bugs for some nighttime hunting fun.

Their swimming water is daytime activity only and outside of the pen