Sand for Duck House Bedding?

[GoldDogsMom]

I'm planning on digging a few inches into the ground to level everything out, then put down a layer of landscaping fabric, 2-4 inches of pea gravel, another layer of landscaping fabric and then several inches of sand. Hopefully with that setup the coop will drain fairly quickly of any water. I've also designed a water-catcher for my ducks waterer, kind of like what I have now in the pen I'm keeping them in currently but a little more robust (essentially, a frame that's about 4'x4' that has a grate on top and a bucket underneath to catch all of the water and droppings that fall through).

My intention is for the sand to act as a big litter box for the ducks, and I can go in a scoop out all of the poop I find on a daily basis which really shouldn't take more than a few minutes a day. Minimizing the amount of water that makes contact with the ground to just the ducks' poop should really help keep things clean.

I'm really trying to minimize the amount of upkeep that I'm going to have to do, even if it costs me a little more money. It's worth it if it means I'm not spending 20 mins a day cleaning a coop!

Agreed! How many ducks do you have?

 

[jonhpdx]

Agreed! How many ducks do you have?

4 ducks (1 Welsh Harlequin, 1 Cayuga, 1 Pekin and 1 Black Swedish) @ 4.5 weeks old.

The pen they'll eventually be moving into is about 10'x10', and I plan on adding a run for them adjacent to their coop that will be about 10'x12' with their own pond.

 

[GoldDogsMom]

4 ducks (1 Welsh Harlequin, 1 Cayuga, 1 Pekin and 1 Black Swedish) @ 4.5 weeks old.

The pen they'll eventually be moving into is about 10'x10', and I plan on adding a run for them adjacent to their coop that will be about 10'x12' with their own pond.

Oh fun! I have 4 Rouens (1 drake/ 3 females) They have a 4x4x4 duck house with food and water at night for protection. During the day they freerange and we have a pond that they spend part of their day swimming in! Here is a picture of them on the partially frozen pond this winter-that shows about 1/3 of the actual pond.



And here is a picture of them late summer last year

 

[jonhpdx]

Very cool! My 4 are growing up so fast! A couple more weeks and they'll be full-fledged ducks!

 

[GoldDogsMom]

Very cool! My 4 are growing up so fast! A couple more weeks and they'll be full-fledged ducks!

Oh pretty! What a nice mix! They grow up so fast don't they...mine are laying now so I get 3 eggs/day and when it's a little warmer I am going to let them hatch a clutch!

 

[jonhpdx]

Oh pretty! What a nice mix! They grow up so fast don't they...mine are laying now so I get 3 eggs/day and when it's a little warmer I am going to let them hatch a clutch!

Thanks! When I joined this forum I was surprised to see that not many people mix and match like I did with my choice of breed. They're all very friendly with one another and there haven't been any incidents of the bigger ones picking on the littler ones, so I dunno.

 

[GoldDogsMom]

I did that with my chickens, I wanted a variety of egg colors and chicken colors...I had 2 Pekin Ducks with a mallard, lost them, then had 2 more pekins, coon killed them so...I decided to do the Rouen-bigger then a Mallard, camo coloring, can't fly and I reinforced my duck house!

Happy to say all 4Roens are happy healthy and safe! (Knock on wood) I absolutely love my Daffy and the Daisy Ducks!

 

[ducklover87]

For the people who use the sand do find that you get bugs? I was throwing around the idea and was like well idk if I should because they will get fleas but then I was like no they don't get fleas they will get mites. Just wondering if anyone has experienced this. I've never had to treat my birds for mites and I check them quite often.

 

[jonhpdx]

No, I haven't gotten any bugs. They've only been in their coop with the sand for 3 weeks, though. I feel like any bugs they see in the sand they're going to eat. I know mites and fleas are pretty small, so I dunno what you might do against preventing that.

 

[ducklover87]

Thanks for your feedback. Ive heard DE prevents bugs but not sure how true it is. I just figured that the sand might attract bugs more.