Please tell me!!!!

[arabianequine]

How do you have you ducks set up when inside your house? Show me their living quarters so I can get ideas. This is a pain....this duck is messy and dirty. Is it normal to clean the cage 2-3 times a day? The cage has no bottom so I can't use shavings. What do you use? Do you recommend anything different then newspaper with extra absorbency paper towels on top of that?

Thank you!

 

[tia]

Ducks are messy. You have to love them. This is the set up I have in my garage.

If they are still ducklings a brooder of some sort would be good. I just use a large rubbermaid tote. I put towels in the bottom, rinse then out and then put them in the washer. It is a lot of work. When they get older you can use pine shavings. That is what I use on the floor of the pen pictured above.

 

[duckyfromoz]

I am lucky to have a very steady supply of large cardboard boxes from work. I change the paper and shavings every day and the whole box each week.
I have a variety of cages and pens for when they are big enough for time outside as well.

tia- after seeing your pic the first time you - I bought some lino for out in the shed night pens.
It works so much better than tarps. So I will be going out to get some more as I build other pens too.

 

[kysilkies]

Ducks sleep on floor, chickens on the perches...

Outside view:

The ducks get let out first thing in the morning, they free range all day and just go to coop to sleep...Chickens get let out 3hrs before sundown everyday...

 

[Amiga]

Yes, they make a mess, I have changed bedding from 3 to 5 times a day with my eleven.

Things that help immensely - a double sheet of 6 mil plastic under everything, that goes up on the edges at least 5 inches. because of splash.

Keeping it well ventilated.

Cat litter buckets so I can quickly dump the used bedding into it

Old washcloths to wipe up moisture from plastic sheets

Bottle of 1 part vinegar to 10 parts water to wipe down plastic sheeting a few times a week to kill germs and odors

Hanging old sheets or towels around their feeding and watering area to catch splash

Putting a pan of some sort under the waterer

Letting them outside in a safe place in mild weather.

I will look for pics and post if I find some

Hang on, it doesn't last that long!!!!!

 

[Amiga]

They are in a 16 sf puppy playpen with 6 mil plastic underneath and up the sides a bit, with plastic poultry fence to keep them in (at the time they could have slipped out, or at least gotten stuck in the pen because the gaps were a couple of inches wide. You can see a towel I pinned up to prevent drafts, but then I realized it prevented mess from leaving that side of the pen.

I kept the waterer and feed at the same end of the pen. The silver around the bottom of the waterer is the splash catcher.

This shows the plastic liner up several inches, and the splash catcher, and the poultry fence inside the puppy pen.

This is a somewhat larger setup, but there are eleven ducklings involved!

 

[arabianequine]

I like that box idea my local feed store has the octagon kind of boxes they are about that tall too. At least has a bottom in it to put shavings or something to last a bit longer than papertowels.

Thank you for all your ideas!