My Muddy Ducks!

[KansasChickensDucks]

Morning!

So we just had a ton of rain and our ducks loved it. Now it’s a muddy mess.

Question, does anyone use pea gravel underneath their pools or around to try and limit the amount of excessive mud that they make?

Thank you!

 

[casportpony]

@shawluvsbirds, @Isaac 0, @DuckyDonna, can you help?

 

[ducksinvt]

I use med size river rock and it works amazing!!!!!

 

[KaleIAm]

I tried pea gravel, but my ducks got multiple cases of bumblefoot. My vet told me to remove it. I did, and all other hard things, and haven't had any bumbles since for 4 years now.

I know other people who use it and say it hasn't caused a problem. But that has not been my experience.

 

[Isaac 0]

Regardless of what run material you use, you need to grade or add around/in the run so the rain runs away from the run it, or it's just going to keep pooling in the run, and the ducks will further mud dig the soil thus compacting the soil even more by squeezing any oxygen particles that were previously in the soil greatly decreasing the absorbability.

I would personally be hesitant in using a hard run material like rocks, mainly, because with Pekins you have to be a little bit more careful in deciding one since they're so heavy, keeping them on any hard surface can lead to Bumblefoot among with other problems.

Could you post a few pictures of their whole setup?

 

[nao57]

There are other issues with pea gravel, but I agree that it would be hard on their feet.

Another issue is that now you can't easily sift out the duck manure to put in the garden if there's gravel mixed in it.

And it creates huge problems if you need to repurpose this area into something else later. I have a section of garden we're still trying to remove lava rock from, months after the initial removal. :S

 

[KansasChickensDucks]

I tried pea gravel, but my ducks got multiple cases of bumblefoot. My vet told me to remove it. I did, and all other hard things, and haven't had any bumbles since for 4 years now.

I know other people who use it and say it hasn't caused a problem. But that has not been my experience.

This is what I am worried about. Our girls tend to her bumblefoot too. Thank you!

 

[KansasChickensDucks]

Regardless of what run material you use, you need to grade or add around/in the run so the rain runs away from the run it, or it's just going to keep pooling in the run, and the ducks will further mud dig the soil thus compacting the soil even more by squeezing any oxygen particles that were previously in the soil greatly decreasing the absorbability.

I would personally be hesitant in using a hard run material like rocks, mainly, because with Pekins you have to be a little bit more careful in deciding one since they're so heavy, keeping them on any hard surface can lead to Bumblefoot among with other problems.

Could you post a few pictures of their whole setup?

Yes, I’ll grab some pics when I head out there again this morning.
We do have the pool on a grade so the water runs out of their pen.
We just had a ton of rain so the pen is muddy. I just layered it with heavy straw so they weren’t walking around in the mud constantly. Thanks for the reply! Sending pics shortly.

 

[sunnie7]

Call some local tree businesses and see if when they are in the area next they will bring you some wood chips....we just had 8 trees removed they blew it straight into my run! I also have a decent size pile saved up too.

 

[Mimi13]

I temporarily have AstroTurf grass around one of their pools. This particular pool is on a pretty fair grade so the turf was also for erosion purposes until I can landscape around the final placement of the pool. The other pool in their run (again on a fairly steep grade) just was the earth/grass in the beginning, but it now has straw around it that comes from the duck house when I clean it out.

I’m gonna have to agree with @Isaac 0. No matter what is placed around the pool, the grade of the land needs to be fixed — not as drastic as mine, thanks Mother Nature — but a decent enough grade that all water will run off.

I’ve had my duckies less than 18 weeks, but it seems ducks are good at creating their own mud.

Good luck!