Question Re: Ducks & PDZ

[room onthebroom]

PDZ keeps popping up in the chicken coop forums. Does anybody use it in their duck coops? Is it safe for ducks? If anybody does use it, where exactly do you put it & how happy are you with it? We've always used hay in the past, but it absorbs nothing, so I'd like a better option. Any advice???

 

[needlessjunk]

I've used it and didn't find that it helped with anything at all. It's safe to use but I hate spending money on something that doesn't do anything. I use shavings and some DE to help control flies.

 

[room onthebroom]

I've used it and didn't find that it helped with anything at all. It's safe to use but I hate spending money on something that doesn't do anything. I use shavings and some DE to help control flies.

We have tons of DE (usually use it for ants) do you mix it into the shavings? Also I hear that people either love or hate shavings ... Which kind do you use?

 

[Amiga]

I put the DE where the wall meets the floor before I put shavings in for bedding. I sprinkle PDZ on the floor before adding shavings. I hope to reduce the amount of dust that gets stirred up when they flap their wings for joy.

 

[MakeshiftAcre]

My five month old khaki Campbells have been using PDZ as their grit since they were a couple weeks old. Safe according to PDZ website. I think it gives their poops a more dirtlike and less tarlike consistency and may help the smell a bit. It goes in their grit cup and where they scatter it nearby. I meant to use it only as a chick grit and to scatter in their brooder, but like it enough to keep using it thus far.

 

[room onthebroom]

Thanks for the info. Have either of you noticed if it clumps the poop like kitty litter? I'm sure thats wishful thinking, but when I dream, I dream big!

 

[Amiga]

No, I don't think it clumps…. but I don't use but a light sprinkle, not piles of it.

 

[MakeshiftAcre]

Haven't noticed it clumping either, but ditto. I do have an idea that next time I try brooding it should be on a bed of PDZ covered by paper towels, though granted that would be an enormous muddy pain if the waterer should spill.

 

[Amiga]

I have been thinking sawdust pellets with half inch soft plastic mesh. Not soft enough for them to eat. And a watering station and feeding platform.

Or, 70%cocoa's modified rabbit hutch - a towel over hardware cloth floor, and drip pan underneath.

 

[room onthebroom]

Thanks for all the input. My duck has made herself best friends with one of my chickens & follows her into the coop at night, so I need something that both works & is safe for everybody. We've got a new coop going in right now & the floor has this weird texture that almost reminds me of chalk board. I know it cant withstand what the ducks butt is going to do to it. I'm thinking a solid linoleum sheet across the floor & my first attempt at poop decks for the chicken roosts, but still cant decide what to put over the linoleum for the duck... More useless straw? Pellets? Sand? Shavings? DE? PDZ?

*Note that this is our 3rd coop, because over the years we somehow screwed up the first two ... Bumbling a project is apparently my Super Power! We've had multiple BYC windows open day & night for weeks trying to get enough info to get this one right & I'm still not sure what I'm doing. Please send good, non-bumbling thoughts our way & any more advice on what's worked or not for you.