Muscovy keepers share your pics!

In the mean time, something else I found interesting.

I use commercial wood shavings in my chicken coop, and my "nursery" where I raise my meat birds. Vastly superior to straw, IMO.
Anyway, all that straw in my picture is whats left of the straw bale hootch I built the ducks as temporary shelter last winter. It certainly was temporary, because they completely destroyed it.
The point of my story is, when I built it, I put fresh wood shavings inside for bedding. They absolutely refused to go inside. I had shavings on the ground in front, and they wouldn't even walk on them.
As soon as I raked out the shavings and replaced it with straw, they settled right in.
It didn't have anything to do with what they were used to, because they were fledglings, and didn't have any frame of reference. They just hated the wood shavings!
 
In the mean time, something else I found interesting.

I use commercial wood shavings in my chicken coop, and my "nursery" where I raise my meat birds. Vastly superior to straw, IMO.
Anyway, all that straw in my picture is whats left of the straw bale hootch I built the ducks as temporary shelter last winter. It certainly was temporary, because they completely destroyed it.
The point of my story is, when I built it, I put fresh wood shavings inside for bedding. They absolutely refused to go inside. I had shavings on the ground in front, and they wouldn't even walk on them.
As soon as I raked out the shavings and replaced it with straw, they settled right in.
It didn't have anything to do with what they were used to, because they were fledglings, and didn't have any frame of reference. They just hated the wood shavings!

Okay, I FINALLY got this to load. This is my enclosure/ramp. Sorry for the poopy water. Believe it or not I just changed it an hour ago. Anyway...You can see the plywood "V" that funnels them into the ramp. Our ramp is about 3 feet wide, the little wooden cleats are 6" apart. You can see the poultry netting on the side of the ramp. My husband put surveyor's tape (pink) through it so the ducks could see it better.

I used the wood shavings when they were young but it would take way too much to cover this 10 x 10 enclosure. I use hay in the parts of the enclosure where they sleep and their dog crates (this is where they lay their eggs). I go through about a bale of hay per month. At $5/bale I figure I am ok.

Hope this helps!
Mandy
 
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