pen question

[Kacey52]

What do you put in your duck pens? I put straw in mine but it seems to get wet and dirty really fast.

right? lol Anyway I raked the straw out and laid some slate rocks down that I had laying around, then I put fresh straw on top. I didn't have enough rocks to cover the whole floor but it's at least under where their food and water is. I then put their water up an some pavers and hung their food dish from the side of the pen. This morning when I let them out it looked wet all around by their water dish. So, what do you do to keep things dry?

 

[clbarley]

I lay down straw once a week. They dont have any pools in their pen or anything so unless it rains it stays pretty clean! They like to make nests in it though.

 

[Kevin565]

I've tried everything under the sun but finally settled on sand. It works wonders for the smell here!

 

[sherrik9]

I've tried everything under the sun but finally settled on sand. It works wonders for the smell here!

After the talk last year on BYC about sand I decided to give it a try. I will never use anything else. Our winter rains have started and the pens are mud free. I keep wood pellet bedding in the covered areas for nesting but have sand everywhere else. Just needs a little raking now and again very easy.

 

[Kevin565]

I've heard similar stories about that in areas with a lot of rain fall. Luckily down here rain is scarce so it doesn't seem to have any negative effects on the sand.

 

[AKnewbie]

Kevin, you may have answered this in previous threads but kindly indulge me.
So with the sand, what's the maintenance on that? Do you just scoop the poop out everyday?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

free range all day, but yes sand works best. Lucky for us we live on an island so sand is our ground. A little stir or rake and all is fine.

 

[Kevin565]

Kevin, you may have answered this in previous threads but kindly indulge me.
So with the sand, what's the maintenance on that? Do you just scoop the poop out everyday?

I literally treat it like a giant ferret litter box. I'll just grab a rake and shovel and scoop the poop into the trash. It takes maybe 10 minutes if that a day. Sometimes we will get pretty bad storms then I just pick up a bit more sand to add to the area.

 

[Tahai]

I bought a portable poultry net electric fence from Kencove. I'ts 40x40, so it never gets worn down and muddy like a smaller permanent pen would. I only moved it a couple of times all summer, and that was just so I could mow where the pasture had been.

For the duck house, I use the deep litter method with coarse pine shavings.