New to duck keeping! Duck Run ideas

[KuhnyBoi]

Thank you for all the great info. I’m learning so much more about composting now too which is also something I’ve never done. I do see what you mean about the brown and green materials in terms of composting. Some stuff I found says two thirds brown to one third green. So that would make sense to add straw as the poop gets to be kind of heavy.

Once the pile thaws out in the spring does smell become a problem since the cold does damage to the good bacteria in the compost or does that not really happen since you’ve been adding straw over the winter? I don’t have a garden per say but I’m assuming I can just use this compost in my other plant beds for nutrients right?

 

[Duckworth]

Thank you for all the great info. I’m learning so much more about composting now too which is also something I’ve never done. I do see what you mean about the brown and green materials in terms of composting. Some stuff I found says two thirds brown to one third green. So that would make sense to add straw as the poop gets to be kind of heavy.

Once the pile thaws out in the spring does smell become a problem since the cold does damage to the good bacteria in the compost or does that not really happen since you’ve been adding straw over the winter? I don’t have a garden per say but I’m assuming I can just use this compost in my other plant beds for nutrients right?

Yes, straw does start to smell as it thaws. In our case, snow blows into the run during storms and ice forms from both snow and frozen water splashed from the ducks’ drinking water buckets. The buckets get frozen into the surrounding straw and I have to break through the ice every morning and afternoon or use hot water to melt through.

I hang tarps on the north and west sides of the run and the east side of ours is a solid wall shared with the duck house and straw storage area. The south side is two feet from the north side of our garage, so is largely sheltered. Even so, the repeated dusting to a few inches of snow will blow in during storms or blizzards. Then, of course there is the wet poop that freezes. By spring thaw, there is usually a mound of frozen poop in their favorite areas and a mound of ice around the water buckets. I don’t give swimming water in the winter.

Keep in mind that we have to turn our outside water bib off when the temperatures drop below freezing and can’t turn it on again permanently until May. This means that any water has to be carried from the house. I have three heavy-duty red feed buckets (with one flat side) that I use to give drinking water to my ducks. I usually have two buckets in the pen and one inside in the bathtub thawing enough to dump the big chunk of ice back outside. I rotate them so that they don’t get froze too solidly into the straw and so that I can keep their water open. It usually takes a bucket a couple of days to freeze solid, at which point there is no way to just break through the ice or pour more hot water into it. I use gallon jugs with lids to ferry water out to the buckets, since my back porch steps are wood and spilling water there will just make them more icy and treacherous.

As the weather starts to warm above freezing during the day again, I use a six gallon mortar mixing tub to give my ducks a chance to bathe. It’s a lot easier to carry out four or five jugs of water than to try to fill a kiddie pool. When it freezes, it’s a lot easier to dump a mortar tub-sized chunk of ice than a frozen kiddie pool. My main point in describing this is not to say that this is the ideal way to do things, but to illustrate the fact that winter brings on different challenges in duck care and has its own considerations, such as no access to the garden hose and frozen door hinges. So think about these things when designing your run so that you won’t have to come up with a fix in sub freezing weather.

Back to spring thaw, I just use a garden fork to fork out as much straw as possible as it melts and starts to smell. But I have to have a solid surface floor for my run under our local laws, so letting the straw compost into the soil means I have to move it to my garden or one of my compost piles to finish the process. Composting generates heat and typically continues over the winter, but may not keep up with the amount of straw and poop you are adding without being able to fluff and turn it effectively. The heat generation is a benefit for the ducks, who are very cold hardy and intrepid. Over soil, you can stir/fluff as it thaws and if odor becomes a problem, move some of the spent straw to mulch and fertilize your flower beds. Spring and early summer are our most challenging months because of the amount of rain and stormy weather and the saturation of the ground.

Speaking of local laws, it’s always a good idea to know what they are so that you can design accordingly. Following the law is a choice and if what you want to do means not following it exactly, it’s better to know the risk you are taking and what steps, if taken, could bring you into compliance, than to move forward unaware, then be surprised. It is often just as easy and cheap to build according to the local requirements and more expensive to have to rebuild to comply. This is especially important if you have neighbors with whom you have less than a great relationship or who will press the compliance issues.

 

[KuhnyBoi]

Thank you for all the advice! I'm going to put all the knowledge to good use. The ducks will be arriving this week. I am very excited.