New duck owner with questions.

[DuckyDonna]

Boy, you've got quite a challenge! I admire you for taking this on! If you put down artificial turf it would be nice until the ducks started pooping on it which would be in about 10 seconds. The turf is also kind of prickly for their feet and I don't know how you'd get rid of all the poop that will get caught in those "grass" fibers.

I'd say lay some kind of rubber mats all over the area they will be in. Or maybe some indoor/outdoor carpet that comes all in one piece would be even better perhaps. Make it fit in the area then block off the rest to them. Only 3 ducks won't need a ton of space.

I'm not sure those mats that have the holes would work because the poop would get stuck in the holes even when you hose it down so you might end up being better off with a full outdoor carpet.

How will you clean it off? Hose it down? If so, where would the water and poop drain to? I hope you have some kind of runoff area that the waste will be going or it will be a very stinky mess and the flies would be awful

On the bright side, it doesn't look like 4-legged predators will be able to get in with all those walls! Except for raccoons, they can get in but if you put a cover of netting over the top it would keep them out. Looks like that would be fairly easy to do since the area is not very wide.

What is that big grey door? I see where you could put a little garden for them to play in that will be nice and having a little pool on concrete will sure cut down on the mess with a pool.

 

[Rachelvharrison]

Thabks for the help. The big grey door goes to the back lane behind the house but we hardly use it. We dont have raccoons in the UK so we should be fairly predator proof. I have ordered some cow stall matting to go un the enclosure and a little around the outside it seems very similar to horse matting but cheaper and it said it could be power washed! I think it is definitely doable just needs some imagination. Here is a photo of my ducks just because

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are precious ❤

 

[DuckLover47]

*Winces* Ouch! I just read this thread and comments, and that pen is no place for ducks. It'll burn their feet, it'll cause bumblefoot (which is fatal), but the biggest problem is that ducks are messy. I saw that video posted by noa57 and I think it's a great idea. But. Ducks are still very messy. Their manure will crust all over that concrete causing nothing but ick. Pretty soon it'll smell like... you don't wanna know what it'll smell like.
The ducklings are soooo cute, but I agree with maruadventurer about the quail. Those ducks are going to cost you WAY more time and money than you're expecting.

 

[casportpony]

My idea is to have some form of rubber matting in their pen, I'm thinking those rubber mats with holes in or stable matting, does anyone know which is best for their feet?

I use stall mats in some of my peafowl grow out pens. The smooth ones work best.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Thabks for the help. The big grey door goes to the back lane behind the house but we hardly use it. We dont have raccoons in the UK so we should be fairly predator proof. I have ordered some cow stall matting to go un the enclosure and a little around the outside it seems very similar to horse matting but cheaper and it said it could be power washed! I think it is definitely doable just needs some imagination. Here is a photo of my ducks just because

They are so cute! Where are you going to put their pen/house/sleeping structure?

 

[nao57]

Thabks for the help. The big grey door goes to the back lane behind the house but we hardly use it. We dont have raccoons in the UK so we should be fairly predator proof. I have ordered some cow stall matting to go un the enclosure and a little around the outside it seems very similar to horse matting but cheaper and it said it could be power washed! I think it is definitely doable just needs some imagination. Here is a photo of my ducks just because

That pic is so cool!

But you know...also, I was a bit surprised when you said that the UK doesn't have raccoons?

Wow.

Did you never have them there, or were they just hunted out in the middle ages when most of Britain was stripped of forest?