Struggling with the mess 😭

[FaithArthur123999]

Hello! I have 6 Indian Runners and I cant believe the mess. Ive had them for about 3 months now but the mess from them is much more than I expected. Dont get me wrong I was 100% expecting mess, wetness from the pool and some level of smell but I am struggling with what I can do to help. I am also a long time chicken owner. The ducks have their own run, plenty of space and they also get half the day to run around the garden (chickens get the other half as they dont get on). So their run area isnt habited all day. They have a wooden coop with straw, food and water area, and a pool which they love. The problem I am struggling with is the Poo. I was aware that they pood alot but where the poo is so watery (compared to chickens) we can't scoop it up and its becoming impossible to keep on top of, they had grass in their run but the mud and the poo has ruined it and now just looks like hard mud. Im looking at covering the whole area in straw to help drainage and be able to pick up the poo. In the UK and have had no sun for weeks so the ground is so mushy and wet as its not drying out. I feel so bad for them as I catch them sleeping on their poo which I know I cant control but I have googled so much about keeping it clean for them and they say to make sure there is a patch of area that is poo free for them to rest on but thats impossible as the poo is everywhere. Weve tried scraping poo off the ground and raking the mud buy that only helps for about a day. I am after any advice or solutions to keep their area cleaner. Their bedding gets changed every 2 days which is costing a fortune as well. The smell isnt great either and worried about my neighbour complaining. I love them all so much and will do anything to make it nicer for them but I dont have all day every day to rake the grass/mud because an hour after, its covered in poo again. Would love any help and advice ❤❤

 

[Plague]

Hello! I have 6 Indian Runners and I cant believe the mess. Ive had them for about 3 months now but the mess from them is much more than I expected. Dont get me wrong I was 100% expecting mess, wetness from the pool and some level of smell but I am struggling with what I can do to help. I am also a long time chicken owner. The ducks have their own run, plenty of space and they also get half the day to run around the garden (chickens get the other half as they dont get on). So their run area isnt habited all day. They have a wooden coop with straw, food and water area, and a pool which they love. The problem I am struggling with is the Poo. I was aware that they pood alot but where the poo is so watery (compared to chickens) we can't scoop it up and its becoming impossible to keep on top of, they had grass in their run but the mud and the poo has ruined it and now just looks like hard mud. Im looking at covering the whole area in straw to help drainage and be able to pick up the poo. In the UK and have had no sun for weeks so the ground is so mushy and wet as its not drying out. I feel so bad for them as I catch them sleeping on their poo which I know I cant control but I have googled so much about keeping it clean for them and they say to make sure there is a patch of area that is poo free for them to rest on but thats impossible as the poo is everywhere. Weve tried scraping poo off the ground and raking the mud buy that only helps for about a day. I am after any advice or solutions to keep their area cleaner. Their bedding gets changed every 2 days which is costing a fortune as well. The smell isnt great either and worried about my neighbour complaining. I love them all so much and will do anything to make it nicer for them but I dont have all day every day to rake the grass/mud because an hour after, its covered in poo again. Would love any help and advice ❤❤

Best I have found is more space. I have 4 in one house, when we put them out there they were just old enough. We kept food and water in there to get them use to going in, which worked great! Ours free range from the morning to time to goto bed. After they got use to being in there, and free ranging all day they didn't eat nearly as much food in the house, which made a big difference, it was nearly an everyday cleaning at the beginning, now typically just add a little extra bedding to "freshen" it up so they don't just lay in poop. then every 3-5 days depending on how it looks we pull it all out and put fresh. Recently got our bigger house finished, got our one female in there with our now 4 week old ducklings, separated, but in same house. the ducklings demolished their side the first night. have yet to need to do anything on our duck's side, it is about as big on her side, if not bigger than our other drake's house. she hardly eats her food and water as she also has all day to roam and eat. The little guys just eat and eat, so it doesn't seem to matter with them, they are just super messy. but once adult and if you can let them free range to eat instead of their area it seems to make a big difference, otherwise I would say make them a bigger area, as that seems to at least take them longer to demolish. After dealing with our first, although technically by spec it is bigger than needed, when I built this one after my experience, I went even bigger. So my suggestion would be increase their area, and I think it might help you a bit, if you can that is.

 

[MontiSage]

If you think the is bad, wait 'til it warms up and the flies move in. Cold spring weather is the time to make sure there's a fly control plan. Sprays, sticky traps, water traps, fly predators? You'll need them all for ducks. If you fall behind you'll never catch up.

 

[Plague]

If you think the is bad, wait 'til it warms up and the flies move in. Cold spring weather is the time to make sure there's a fly control plan. Sprays, sticky traps, water traps, fly predators? You'll need them all for ducks. If you fall behind you'll never catch up.

I agree here, 100 percent. Although it was not ever a big problem for us with the drake house, there were some, but we implemented some control, and after that, really was a non-issue. however next day because the ducklings made such an overnight mess it became a big issue really fast. Now it is fairly controlled, but not quite as much as the drake house. If had just implemented same procedure we did with the drake house, before we introduced them, it would have prevented the very bad issue before it happened, and not taken as long to get it better controlled!

 

[Canadian Wind]

First thing I would do is change the bedding. Do you have access to something more absorbent than straw? I use wood chips, a thick layer, scrape off the top every couple of days and just fluff up the rest.

My yard is also a mud hole at this point. If you wanted to, you could give them a higher platform to do their napping on.

I'm not as concerned for flies, as I have Muscovy which are THE best insect control. I hardly ever see any bugs in their coop.

I also agree with more 'outside' time. Try to get them integrated with the chickens. Mine free range with the chooks all day.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Oh, and I toss the used bedding in their yard, and it just composts down. Some use it in their compost pile.

 

[FaithArthur123999]

Best I have found is more space. I have 4 in one house, when we put them out there they were just old enough. We kept food and water in there to get them use to going in, which worked great! Ours free range from the morning to time to goto bed. After they got use to being in there, and free ranging all day they didn't eat nearly as much food in the house, which made a big difference, it was nearly an everyday cleaning at the beginning, now typically just add a little extra bedding to "freshen" it up so they don't just lay in poop. then every 3-5 days depending on how it looks we pull it all out and put fresh. Recently got our bigger house finished, got our one female in there with our now 4 week old ducklings, separated, but in same house. the ducklings demolished their side the first night. have yet to need to do anything on our duck's side, it is about as big on her side, if not bigger than our other drake's house. she hardly eats her food and water as she also has all day to roam and eat. The little guys just eat and eat, so it doesn't seem to matter with them, they are just super messy. but once adult and if you can let them free range to eat instead of their area it seems to make a big difference, otherwise I would say make them a bigger area, as that seems to at least take them longer to demolish. After dealing with our first, although technically by spec it is bigger than needed, when I built this one after my experience, I went even bigger. So my suggestion would be increase their area, and I think it might help you a bit, if you can that is.

Hello, thank you for your response, I will definitely look into your advice and look to see how I can extend their space x

 

[FaithArthur123999]

If you think the is bad, wait 'til it warms up and the flies move in. Cold spring weather is the time to make sure there's a fly control plan. Sprays, sticky traps, water traps, fly predators? You'll need them all for ducks. If you fall behind you'll never catch up.

Hello, thank you for your reply, thankfully we are entering our winter shortly but I will definitely prepare with lots of fly tape come spring time

 

[FaithArthur123999]

I agree here, 100 percent. Although it was not ever a big problem for us with the drake house, there were some, but we implemented some control, and after that, really was a non-issue. however next day because the ducklings made such an overnight mess it became a big issue really fast. Now it is fairly controlled, but not quite as much as the drake house. If had just implemented same procedure we did with the drake house, before we introduced them, it would have prevented the very bad issue before it happened, and not taken as long to get it better controlled!

Hello, thank you for your reply, I will definitely take on board this information

 

[FaithArthur123999]

First thing I would do is change the bedding. Do you have access to something more absorbent than straw? I use wood chips, a thick layer, scrape off the top every couple of days and just fluff up the rest.

My yard is also a mud hole at this point. If you wanted to, you could give them a higher platform to do their napping on.

I'm not as concerned for flies, as I have Muscovy which are THE best insect control. I hardly ever see any bugs in their coop.

I also agree with more 'outside' time. Try to get them integrated with the chickens. Mine free range with the chooks all day.

Hello, thank you for your reply. I can definitely change the bedding, I had a local equestrian center than has loads of bedding to choose from, I can definitely look into wood chips if that is better. Sadly my chickens are horrible to the ducks, my ducks are so sweet and inquisitive but the many time I have let them out together, the chickens just chase them, peck them and try to pin them down, the poor ducks are terrified of them. It would be so nice to have them all out together but they just dont seem to get along.