Messy ducks

[FFFarm20]

I'm not sure of the dimensions of my duck area but I know I used almost a whole roll of 100ft fencing. Well they are way messier than predicted (my husband won that argument) and I'm trying to find a way to help it. It's currently dirt and has seem to have been severely packed down. The water i drain at night takes forever to soak in to the ground and sometimes there's still puddles in the morning. Im looking for solutions that won't cost too much. We did decide to dig up and put pebbles down to help drainage but I'm worried about the ducks feet. Any ideas for re doing our coop area? Currently can't free range due to area laws and no fence yet

 

[ajohn151]

I'm not sure of the dimensions of my duck area but I know I used almost a whole roll of 100ft fencing. Well they are way messier than predicted (my husband won that argument) and I'm trying to find a way to help it. It's currently dirt and has seem to have been severely packed down. The water i drain at night takes forever to soak in to the ground and sometimes there's still puddles in the morning. Im looking for solutions that won't cost too much. We did decide to dig up and put pebbles down to help drainage but I'm worried about the ducks feet. Any ideas for re doing our coop area? Currently can't free range due to area laws and no fence yet

I had the same issue and struggled to find good information about what to use as ground cover. My run area is almost as large as your fenced area. I have 80 feet of linear run fencing length. What I found that works for me is using wood shavings. I put down a couple bails of the shavings and it has worked really well. The chips dry fast after getting wet and are soft enough for the ducks feet. I use the same wood chips inside the coop and when I clean the coop I just sweep the old chips out onto the ground and spread them out. Once I got a good base of the chips down it has been working beautifully. The one caveat is I cant speak to how well it will work long term as I've only been doing this for a few months.

The other ground cover I considered was sand. I think the sand needs cleaned periodically and that was not something I wanted to mess with, but I think numerous people use sand successfully.

As far as the water I pour the old water from the previous day into a bucket, rinse the water dishes, and refill. I then use the old gross duck water to water my gardens and trees. It makes plants very happy.

Good luck!

 

[416bigbore]

Hello, What a beautiful little flock you have. Messy ducks I find that hard to believe ! Join the club on that one. I think the only way to get away from the mess from having them in a small area, would be to have unlimited space for them so they cant overgraze the grass and weeds to bare ground.

We have poor ground where we are at with lots of clay in it so drainage has always been a real problem. I keep their pool and tubs of drinking water on the outside edge of their run to keep from having a muddy mess in the middle.

I personally would stay away from using any type of pebbles and or sand. Pebbles are hard on their soft little tootsies and can cause bumble foot issues and with sand their is a risk of impacted crop if they decide to eat to much of it.

IMO, A side from moving your flock to another area of good ground to give the current ground time to rest and regrow new grass and weeds, I don't really know of a perfect solution.

Maybe others have figured it out ? Good luck.


https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/201...ks need grit to,impacted crops and even death.

 

[FFFarm20]

Don't the wood shavings end up smelling due to the amount of uncontrollable pooping they do? The ground smells as is because of it. We also have a flooding issue when it rains. The ducks LOVE it but it is still a problem if I put wood chips there

 

[FFFarm20]

Hello, What a beautiful little flock you have. Messy ducks I find that hard to believe ! Join the club on that one. I think the only way to get away from the mess from having them in a small area, would be to have unlimited space for them so they cant overgraze the grass and weeds to bare ground.

We have poor ground where we are at with lots of clay in it so drainage has always been a real problem. I keep their pool and tubs of drinking water on the outside edge of their run to keep from having a muddy mess in the middle.

I personally would stay away from using any type of pebbles and or sand. Pebbles are hard on their soft little tootsies and can cause bumble foot issues and with sand their is a risk of impacted crop if they decide to eat to much of it.

IMO, A side from moving your flock to another area of good ground to give the current ground time to rest and regrow new grass and weeds, I don't really know of a perfect solution.

Maybe others have figured it out ? Good luck.


https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/201...ks need grit to,impacted crops and even death.

I'm thinking of moving them but we only have a 1/2 acre and we are behind a gas station. The gas station only recently put up a fence but there's years of trash buried past the tree line so its completely unusable for any animals. I can not wait to move lol and the other green spot is close to our neighbors that have a mean dog. Blah why can't grass grow faster. I imagine they'll stay in the coop more when it's colder so im hoping the ground will recover

 

[ajohn151]

and with sand their is a risk of impacted crop if they decide to eat to much of it.

Don't the wood shavings end up smelling due to the amount of uncontrollable pooping they do? The ground smells as is because of it. We also have a flooding issue when it rains. The ducks LOVE it but it is still a problem if I put wood chips there

Honestly it smells a lot better after putting down the chips. Is it scent free? Nope, but it is a LOT better. I'll take a picture of my run and post it here in a few minutes.
I'm so happy @416bigbore mentioned that about the impacted crop. I had no idea. That makes me even happier I chose to not use sand.

 

[416bigbore]

Don't the wood shavings end up smelling due to the amount of uncontrollable pooping they do? The ground smells as is because of it. We also have a flooding issue when it rains. The ducks LOVE it but it is still a problem if I put wood chips there

Pine wood shavings are ok but have their draw backs also. Do not use cedar wood shavings or any type of wood mulch and or chips, way to hard and sharp on their little feet.

Pine wood shaving are made from a saw blade and are usually uniform, soft and pliable. Wood mulch and chips are made from larger pieces of wood thrown into a machine with large flailing knife blades that pulverize the wood chunks into small random sharp pointed pieces of wood. Great for landscaping projects, bad for bedding material for your animals.

 

[ajohn151]

Pine wood shavings are ok but have their draw backs also. Do not use cedar wood shavings or any type of wood mulch and or chips, way to hard and sharp on their little feet.

Pine wood shaving are made from a saw blade and are usually uniform, soft and pliable. Wood mulch and chips are made from larger pieces of wood thrown into a machine with large flailing knife blades that pulverize the wood chunks into small random sharp pointed pieces of wood. Great for landscaping projects, bad for bedding material for your animals.

These are what I use: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...ium-pine-shavings-covers-8-cu-ft?cm_vc=-10005

 

[416bigbore]

These are what I use: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...ium-pine-shavings-covers-8-cu-ft?cm_vc=-10005

Same here.

 

[FFFarm20]

Thats what we use for their current bedding. Now just have to add some wood to the base of the fence so the shavings will stay in. Also decided to make their pool above ground near the fence like so its easier to dump at night. This all has been so helpful so far, thank you everyone!