New duck owner with questions.

[Rachelvharrison]

We have 3, 3 week old, Campbell ducks I am getting their enclosure and coop ready for when they go outside. They will also be able to roam free in our enclosed yard unfortunately it is all concrete.

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?

The coop has a plastic bottom so was going to use Easibed for the bottom of that, is this ok?

I was thinking of having no water or food in the actual coop to help keep it clean is this ok?

For the yard when they are free roaming I was going to go for a mixture of rubber matting, door mats, artificial grass etc and some low raised beds with soil/sand. Sound ok?

I have attached photos of the enclosure and coop if it helps.

Thank you.

 

[nao57]

Well others hopefully will comment. I'm kind of new. But I ran into this idea to help you, which I'll post below. Ducks really do need constant water access. There are a lot of tweaks to manage them however.

This might also be cheaper than buying all those rubber matting sheets also. Or you could do some combinations around both.

One thing for me that is VERY interesting to watch is how the ducks like to blow bubbles in the water while drinking and eating. Its really comical. They are very interesting.

Also, one problem you have is that plastic is TERRIBLE for drainage. This could end causing you to slip and fall when the plastic gets wet.

Another idea I've ran into by others is only letting them have water access like once a week. (I don't mean drinking water, but like playing water and swimming.)

These aren't my ideas really. I just like to read.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Hi and welcome to BYC I'm not so sure putting ducks on concrete is a great idea. Is the pad already there and you've got no place else to put them? Are you doing this so they don't make a mess? Where are you located? If you will put that in your account profile it will always show so we are able to help you better.

Ducks love to forage and cement isn't going to be good for them to do that. As @nao57 said, plastic is a terrible idea for the reason he/she gave. I just looked up to see what easibed was and apparently you are in the UK right? It sounds like that would be fine to use.

Once the duckling gets to be 10 weeks old they do not need to have access to food and water 24/7 so you won't need to put in it their pen. Keeping it outside will help a lot with keeping the pen clean. You will need to put the food up every night though so rats, mice etc don't get into it.

As far as a pool goes, just get a small plastic kiddie pool for them especially in the summer and once a week is ok if the weather gets really cold. They need to clean themselves to keep healthy and happy. Now that is something you could put on the cement!

Speaking of the cement I would worry about their little feet being on that all the time. So are you planning on covering your whole yard with rubber mats? Wow! I think that may end up being a stinky mess after awhile.

You mentioned raised beds. The ducks will keep the bugs and slugs down but they will also destroy your plants so you may have to fence off that little area which will become their favorite place to be because it will contain dirt which turns into mud = favorite duck thing in the whole world outside of mealworms!

It was a bit hard to tell much about your coop from the picture you posted. To me, it looked pretty small which is fine for 3 ducks but I was wondering how you'd be able to clean it? Hopefully, the roof is on a hinge? I'd hate to see you have to crawl in that little door!

 

[Isaac 0]

 

[maruadventurer]

My experience is, if you put bedding down the ducks will gravitate towards that location for nesting and rest. But I see several problems with the overall plan being all concrete:

* The locale will end up a crusty stinky mess as there is no environment to absorb the manure.
* To solve the first problem one deploys bedding to absorb the manure. But now you have a cost problem. Unless you have a free unlimited supply of bedding you will end up spending $$.
* Having bought the bedding, now soiled, do you have a plan for disposal that does not entail even more $$?

I am a duck guy thru and thru so I favor your idea. But, just me talking, I might consider quail instead based on the parameters you offered. They can be housed compactly. Their manure disposal is more easily managed given your situation, etc.

 

[Rachelvharrison]

Thanks for the replies I will try and answer some questions.

I am located in North East England. The whole yard is concrete so I cant escape that but I can try and solve the problem. Is it the hardness of the concrete or the roughness that is a problem for ducks? At least then I know what the problem is I am trying to solve.

The coop has a removable roof so easy enough to clean and will be filled with bedding so they are nice and cosy. It is the run that will be the main problem. How about putting some boards around the outside to keep the substrate in and using sand/soil and raking over daily and changing completely as and when necessary?

If I can make the run, where they will be for most of the time nice and easy on their feet I assume them having a bit of a wander on the concrete in the rest of the yard every now and then wont be too much of an issue?

The raised beds were for the ducks to play in not for plants Im not much of a gardener.

 

[DuckyDonna]

could you post some pictures of what you've got planned or at least of the area you want this to take place in? It's hard for me to imagine without a visual of the area.

I'm a bit confused about the raised beds being for the ducks to play in. I don't even know what I want to say about that. Pictures would be the best thing! Keep in mind that I've got a lot of land and it's hard for me to picture this. I'd love to help you though!

 

[Rachelvharrison]

I have attached a photo of our yard, its probably not easy to see but it goes round the corner at the bottom. Its about 8 metres long and 3 metres wide at the narrowest point. The widest point (at the bottom) is about 5 metres.

We plan to have the enclosure which is 3m by 2 metres in the bottom right corner as you look at the photo. We dont use the roller shutter. And have them free ranging in the whole yard when we can. All the rubbish will be removed from the yard so there will just be the wheelie bins in there.

I'm happy to cover pretty much the whole yard in whatever is needed to protect their feet but if its loose bedding rather than something more solid like matting or artificial grass I would rather just keep that in the enclosure.

 

[nao57]

Its interesting that you don't need a big yard for stuff like this. I feel grateful to see that other people do them with small yards because it strengthens everyone's position. I'm also grateful to see more people are doing poultry now with the store uncertainty; and that's helping me see its the right thing to do by being self sufficient.

I also like that its fun to see that people are doing more than just 2 or 3, so I don't worry if I'm doing too many.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Rough concrete can cause bumble foot if the concrete causes open cuts in their feet. You'd defiantly want to have something soft under foot.