Keeping down the mud

[Mtnboomer]

Hello again!
As I have mentioned before, we have 4 ducks and I built them a 30' x 8' pen that they share with our adolescent chicks. As yall know, ducks make mud and they seem to love rooting through it! I definitely don't want to take away a natural behavior and mental stimulation, but it is quickly turning the entire pen into a muddy mess. They have eaten all the grass down to the dirt. I was thinking of leaving a small area around their pool mud for them to play in but using wood mulch to cover the rest.
Anyone have better suggestions?

 

[Dees ducks]

Ha!
After 3 weeks of lovely sunny weather in the UK it started raining yesterday. I went out to my ducks run at 10.30 to give them some treats but have been inside myself for most of the day.
Well, I went out about an hour ago in the rain to give their house a clean and I rounded the corner in the garden to complete devastation!!!!!!!!
The ducks have cleared a grass area of about 3 meter square into a huge deep mud puddle/pond!
I was so shocked that I came to an abrubt halt and said "what the hell happened here?" to which I had 8 cute, mud splattered faces looking back at me as if to say "wasn't me!"
Got to love those ducks............

 

[chickens really]

I don't keep Kiddie pools in the pen. Mine free range once a day and swim then. My Runs are covered and I use sand.

 

[katiebrock]

I don't keep Kiddie pools in the pen. Mine free range once a day and swim then. My Runs are covered and I use sand.

@chickensreally What kind of sand do you use? I am thinking about putting some down. Is it the normal “play sand” type or is it a little more coarse?

 

[chickens really]

@chickensreally What kind of sand do you use? I am thinking about putting some down. Is it the normal “play sand” type or is it a little more coarse?

We use any kind of sand. It's washed though. We buy it from a landscape company in bulk.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

I did two major things that helped.

Whatever size "duck dipping" water you have, I would get it into a corner and place something else next to it to create 3 blocked access sides. When only one to 2 ducks can access the swimming water at a time, they seem less concerned with muddying it up and more likely to just use it for what we want them to.
Right now I'm using maybe a 15 gallon rubber cattle feed dish, maybe it's larger, but it's wide enough for 2 ducks at a time only and deep enough for them to flap up their wings and dip necks. I will get them a real pond some day...but this keeps pen cleaner.

Also, put your water fount on something like a pavers stone. You could even make a box or otherwise block access to one side of the waterer. My ducks have to step onto pavers to get to water, putting their cute little bills too far from dirt to make mud.

We have one fount out in the yard for the birds. They've made some mud pies around that one. Generally I've found that they're prone to mud making when bored. The more they free range the less of this I've seen.

If only I could get my hens to lay anywhere but mud...

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Eh, forgot.
I also place material down in pen where they killed the grass.
Every time their house bedding is changed, or shavings from the brooder. I would also use mulch, chips, etc if we had it. This helped a ton.

 

[Mtnboomer]

Awesome suggestions! I have decided to try pea gravel in the majority of the pen with a 5ft x 5ft area around the pool separated and lower in elevation for them to play in the mud. They seem to really love rainy days and go nuts in it.
I am currently working on a "quaquponics" filtration system to cleanse the water. If the mud still proves to be too much, I will place brick pavers in pool area.
The 3 month old chicks that share the flight pen with the ducks should be ready to join the free range flock in a month. At that time, i think i will try free ranging the ducks too. Cross my fingers they go in at night otherwise it will be bye bye birdie and lots of happy coyotes, bobcats, bears, foxes, raccoons.....