Neighbours complaining about my ducks!

[ChezChicken]

I have to admit, I was grateful that she was calm and 'just wanted to say something'. Apparently she doesn't like complaining, so it's unlikely any letters will be written to my local council.
We had some hot weather the other day and she was saying that my ducks were smelling ( which is fair - I had been a little lazy with cleaning them out! )
when my boyfriend and I first started off we had two chickens, but then we discovered a love for chickens and ducks and now we have 8 chickens and over 30 ducks!
I used to work in customer service so i knew how to respond to keep her happy but now I'm not entirely sure what to do.
I was thinking of cleaning the duck's shed and chicken coop after I empty it out - it hosing it down enough? or is there special soap I need to buy?
We have a pond which could be a cause for smell - but it's quite large and will take a long time to empty, scrape and refill.
My main concern is what if the smell is coming from the ground. We recently put some turf down and have been watering it every night. I figured the duck poo would be good for it, but I'm now wondering if it's causing the smell?
She also complained about the noise the ducks made, saying sometimes they quack very loudly ( for example when I got out they all rush up the garden and quacking very loudly! I find it adorable.
I've been looking on the internet for help but haven't found much to go on, so if anyone has some wisdom to share I'd be very grateful!


*update!*

I've just read some posts and some of the suggestions about bedding have helped. I originally gave them fresh bedding every other day( both chickens and ducks) and I'm thinking of going back to that.
My boyfriend told me he was already looking at filters anyway so that will happen eventually.
For the moment I think I'll empty the pond and fill it again. Obviously I can't use the water for the plants as it defeats the purpose of getting rid of the smell ( which is kind of annoying - I've done it many times before with the smaller pond and my plants and baby trees love it!)
There is a smaller pond from back when we only had a few ducks.
The bedding we use is straw which have a few properties, one of which is antibacterial
Also, before straw is put down, newspaper goes on the bottom. This started mostly because it makes it slightly easier to clean up, plus the ducks seem to really enjoy playing with it! especially the little ones
the neighbors are literally right next door - we live in a terraced house in a residential area
I would like to note that someone, somewhere in the neighborhood has a rooster. I can't help wondering if the can have something noisy, then why can't i?
I suppose I'm ticked off because she's THE ONLY neighbor who has a problem. I'm good friends with the lady on her other side, who loves listening to the ducks :\ I suppose you can't please everyone, eh?

 

[enola]

How much space do you have for your ducks?

 

[Mrs.H]

Is that their only pond in the pic? IMO what makes duck areas smell is their water. I dump mine daily and it smells, and I just have a small flock. I dump everything in the morning so the sun can dry it up all day. I prob wouldn't use soap to clean houses since the ducks would prob play in the water while you do it. Taking out old bedding and adding new should be fine. I add some new bedding in between clean outs

 

[Kaessa]

What do you use for bedding? I find that if I use straw, it works really well to fluff it with a pitchfork every day or two, then put down fresh straw on top of it. Keeps the smell down, and the straw underneath composts really nicely. I'm thinking that I'll just rake out all of the straw once every six months or so and put down fresh to start the process over again. Plus, AWESOME compost!

 

[needlessjunk]

How far away are your neighbors and how much room do your ducks have? I think you need to find out what is causing the smell. Also where you live would dictate what you can do (ie country vs suburbs). I think that it is great that she came to you! I have told all my neighbors if they have any problems to please let me know. I think you should try to find out the main cause of the smell. My duck house doesn't smell unless you get right up and stick you nose in it and even then that's right before I clean it.

Their "pond" does smell though and I dump it pretty much every other day to every 3 days. It is a 60 gallon stock tank and it reeks when it gets dumped but it's in a corner of the yard and none of my neighbors houses are close to it (I'm in the suburbs). It sounds like you may need to redo your pond set up. With that many ducks maybe you should consider doing a bio filter and make the water running.

So for the noise... Again it depends. Since you know it bothers her have you offered her some eggs to help keep the peace? Ducks aren't quiet but I'm assuming your neighbors aren't that close since you have 30 ducks. So some of that just goes with living away from town. I find my ducks to be talkers in the morning and when they are out of food.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

38 birds is a sizable flock - how much space do you have allotted to them? Are there additional ponds to the one shown in the photo? Can you show us the rest of the area in which you have your birds so that we can help spot potential changes that might help address some of the issues raised by your neighbor?
From your post it seems you know the first thing that needs to change - unfortunately, there is no room for indulging in a little laziness about the upkeep when you have a large number of birds as you have no seen how quickly they can go from being cute to being smelly. Smelly is not just unpleasant for the humans, but is often indicative of environmental conditions that are unhealthy for the birds. Establishing and adhering to a good maintenance routine is going to be key.