I can't say anything about pea gravel from personal experience, but here is what Dave Holderread, author of "Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks" and internationally known duck breeder says:
"If the soil on the land where you live has poor drainage, the duck yard should be covered with pea gravel, sand, straw, or wood shavings, with the center of the yard built up higher than the outside edges."
He especially recommends pea gravel for under watering areas. I like straw bedding because it is sustainably disposable (i.e. I don't actually have to wash anything), and easy on the duckie's feet. But pea gravel and/or sand would probably be washable, and drain better--when the weather is wet here, the duck yard *does* get pretty mucky, even with the straw down.
If you really want to do it up nice, you could try Holderread's "Triplex Duck Run," which consists of three parts (and would permit part of it to be grass--hurrah!). This is a paraphrase from Storey's Guide:
1. An area inside a building, where they are shut at night for predator protection, bedded with coarse cedar sawdust (I imagine you could use straw or whatever similar product is readily available in your area).
2. A bedded outside yard that they have access to during the day. Quote, "To prevent mud, we cover these yards with 3 to 4 inches of coarse, round gravel, topped with 2 inches of sand, covered with a layer of coarse cedar sawdust."
3. A grassy yard that is available to the ducks only during nice weather (i.e., not rainy--wet weather encourages them to dig holes and make a mess out of anything living).
I *don't* have anything this elaborate, but I'm able to let my flock free range during the day, and at night they are shut into the equivalent of those top two areas, except that the entire area is bedded with straw on top of dirt (no pea gravel, etc).
Let us know what you decide and how it turns out!
Heather
