The Quack Shack

[Luv Ducks]

Have you ever had a case of Bumble foot? That is my biggest fear with anything but the sand I use. I have no one that will hold the duck while I try to treat it and mine do not like to be held and are fiesty when I do have to catch them to clip them.

I have three bags of unopened black mulch. I wonder what would happen if I was to put that down and then put sand over it? Do you think that would help with the mess? It's not a huge area, just where I empty their water bowls and refill them regularly.

 

[Supercow]

Woodchips!!! Try to get your hands on wood-chips! Sand is just covering the mud, wood-chips are soaking up the liquid, evaporating the water, keeping the nutrients locked up and release those when they turn into compost.

You are very correct about the good properties of woodchips, but...

I process all the surplus wood we have left over the year. Nice thick parts are cut up for firewood, small debris is burnt and the middle size goes to the wood chipper.

It takes a LOT of wood to get a significant amount of woodchips. I know because I have been covering garden paths with them and haven't made all that much progress.

I'm not comfortable with bringing in wood that has been removed in various city cleanup operations because I don't want to bring in fungal and other diseases. Our main feature is a large orchard and I don't want to harm that.

It's possible to order large quantities of presumably steamed woodchips from large wood processing facilities but the price is not really low.

.... All of the above + there is this pile of sand that has been sitting in the courtyard for several years.

So for now, the decision is obvious. But I'll be very happy if it turns out that there's a good opportunity to switch to woodchips.

 

[Luv Ducks]

Woodchips!!! Try to get your hands on wood-chips! Sand is just covering the mud, wood-chips are soaking up the liquid, evaporating the water, keeping the nutrients locked up and release those when they turn into compost.

I have read before never use anything in the duck pen that you would not walk on in your own bare feet. My feet are old and would like sand better than wood chips. I am sorry I am so paranoid and thanks for trying to help me.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

That's just what I am going to have to do too. I am just so paranoid about using anything else since they have always had such healthy feet. It scares me as I have no one that would want to hold the duck while I try to treat it and mine by no means want to be held to start with.

Have you ever had a case of Bumble foot? That is my biggest fear with anything but the sand I use. I have no one that will hold the duck while I try to treat it and mine do not like to be held and are fiesty when I do have to catch them to clip them.

There's the duck burrito method as demonstrated with Bazilla Duck:

Bazilla was the only case of bumble-foot here that required treatment and that was before i started to use the wood-chips. She might has stepped into something, but she was so thankful that the pain went away that she gave me a high three:

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I have three bags of unopened black mulch. I wonder what would happen if I was to put that down and then put sand over it? Do you think that would help with the mess? It's not a huge area, just where I empty their water bowls and refill them regularly.

Actually, most mulch is just treated wood-chips. It depends on how those were treated, if it is just some physical treatment (heat, anaerobic fermentation) that's fine. But there are also chemically treated mulches in the market, which i would not use for the ducks...

 

[Luv Ducks]

Actually, most mulch is just treated wood-chips. It depends on how those were treated, if it is just some physical treatment (heat, anaerobic fermentation) that's fine. But there are also chemically treated mulches in the market, which i would not use for the ducks...

Thanks, I am not sure if the bag will tell me or not but I will be sure to check it before I think about using any of it.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

You are very correct about the good properties of woodchips, but...

I process all the surplus wood we have left over the year. Nice thick parts are cut up for firewood, small debris is burnt and the middle size goes to the wood chipper.

It takes a LOT of wood to get a significant amount of woodchips. I know because I have been covering garden paths with them and haven't made all that much progress.

I'm not comfortable with bringing in wood that has been removed in various city cleanup operations because I don't want to bring in fungal and other diseases. Our main feature is a large orchard and I don't want to harm that.

It's possible to order large quantities of presumably steamed woodchips from large wood processing facilities but the price is not really low.

.... All of the above + there is this pile of sand that has been sitting in the courtyard for several years.

So for now, the decision is obvious. But I'll be very happy if it turns out that there's a good opportunity to switch to woodchips.

Without wood-chips everything would stop working here!
And yes, i'm in a very fortunate situation having a tree-service as my neighbor. But i also have build myself a sieve that i can use for the compost as well as for the fresh wood-chips - should those be too bad. I wouldn't take the cities stuff either, too much garbage mixed in, but tree-services usually have really clean chips.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Here is the video from today:

The limp has gotten much better after eating almost 30 grams of food, drinking multiple gallons of water, sleeping for an hour curled up in my hand and then producing a wheelbarrow full of poop.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Almost forgot:

Happy Second Monday to Everybody!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Here is the video from today:

The limp has gotten much better after eating almost 30 grams of food, drinking multiple gallons of water, sleeping for an hour curled up in my hand and then producing a wheelbarrow full of poop.

No clue what went wrong, but my video got deleted on youtube...
Here is Buffzillit[a/o]: