Runner ducks - ewww - they so nasty!!!!!

[Cottage Rose]

First time Runner Mom here... and yes they are indeed WATER HOGS!

I thought my Muscovies were pigs but the Runners make them look like neat-niks.
The Runners (maybe they should be called "Drinkers" instead)
seem to delight in emptying their water fount just for the fun of it.
Mine are 4 weeks old now and I keep them outside all day.
I feed them in the morning and before they go in for the night
and they free range for bugs in between.
I no long offer them food & water inside but on my work days
when they have to go in early I set a 2 gallon water fount in a pan
which sets up on some bricks to catch the excess water.
It does help some.
Oh well...ducks will be ducks!

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
Did the same thing with shelf liner and towels.

 

[duckyfromoz]

their cuteness outweighs the mess

PriceFamilyFarms - You certainly got that right... Each little one has a different personality or some little quirk in their behaviour.

I have 6 half grown Runners in the lounge room and another 4 younger ones in my bedroom with more due to hatch each week for the next few months- I decided to hatch more often with smaller numbers to try to lessen the mess and smell. So far it has worked. Once they are old enough they get a swim every afternoon and I change the bedding in the brooder. They are fed before a swim and dont get the food containers back in the brooder for an hour or so after the swim while they are preening themselves. At least that way we can eat our evening meal with out having to deal with the smell in the house. I dont mind cleaning out the brooders so much- Its the night pens outside where I lock the adults at night that really churns my stomach.​

 

[chickboss]

I use Dry Den pellets as the base for the bedding material and sometimes use a thin layer of hay which I change 2 times a day over the top to catch the droppings which makes the dry den last longer. It absorbs a ton of moisture. Mine are in a large 4'x8' brooder in the house and I put a five gallon waterer in there inside the bottom half of a pet carrier to catch the water, and in another bottom half of a pet carrier I have a open bowl of water for head dunking so they can clean out their nostrials. Catches most of the mess. Those pellets break down into a fine sawdust once they are wet and so if I am not using hay, I pick through with a kitty litter scoop 2x's a day and stir it all up. I stir it anyway, to make sure that it doesn't compact on the bottom and start to mold. I add new material as needed and then change out the whole bit once it is too far gone and start over with new pellets. So far, this is the best thing. I think hay alone, which I have tried, will not absorb much of anything. But they do love to sleep on it and play with it , so I like to keep some in there.

 

[sourland]

Sorry, but your husband is right.