would it be alright to put sand then pee gravel on top of the sand in my duck and chicken run ?

[xxDJL123xx]

hey, my duck/chicken pen is real wet and muddy i would like to know if i could cover the run in sand then put pee gravel on top of the sand would this be good ?

thanks

~Daniel

 

[Amiga]

Hi, Daniel,

I am thinking that the sand and pea gravel might work out but only if the ground underneath has some way to shed the water, even a 2% slope so the water moves out of the pen area, preferably into a vegetated area that will absorb the water and nutrients.

 

[70%cocoa]

Yes, you could do that. Or you could just use pea gravel or just use sand. Ideally, you would add some timber round the base of the pen to keep in the sand/gravel. You don't want it washing away.

I have gravel, then sand on top, then mulch on top of that. In hindsight, the gravel wasn't necessary. I stir up the mulch each day to aerate it and help it to break down. Drainage is good, I don't have to hose it, and it is soft on the ducks' feet

 

[xxDJL123xx]

if the ducks are walking on the gravel will it hurt there feet?

 

[70%cocoa]

If you use rounded gravel, then it should be ok on their feet, but personally I like to provide a softer surface. Plus, with pea gravel, you need to hose it down to clean, it and that uses a lot of water and the water has to run somewhere (as Amiga says). I totally agree that if you are going to have a 'hose down' system like gravel then you need to have a method for directing poopy water somewhere where it will be useful and not a poopy quagmire. If you live in an area that freezes a bit in the winter then the hose freezes up and that puts a dent in your cleaning routine. With sand, you don't have to hose it, you can just scoop poop off the top of it. With mulch over sand you don't need to hose either, you just turn over the mulch daily using some kind of hoe. It only takes a minute So, for these various reasons, I personally like sand or mulch over sand better than pea gravel. But if you can deal with the water side of things, then rounded gravel or pebbles are fine - about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch in diameter.

 

[chickens&ducks_RULE]

i think i will just use the sand in the run

thanks for your help

 

[70%cocoa]

No worries

I see from your signature that you hatched them in your home-made incubator - congratulations! You must have done a great job of constructing it.

 

[chickens&ducks_RULE]

thanks

yeah it was fun in the end i had to help 4 ducks out that bit was scary lol

but yeah a 90% hatch rate on my first time it would have been 100% but 1 duck pipped started zipping then died in the night sometime

 

[70%cocoa]

Well, 90% is a fantastic result, especially where ducklings are involved I bet you learned a lot too... And now you have some lovely ducks to show for it!!

 

[chickens&ducks_RULE]

yeah i learned alot it was great

for the last few weeks i have been reading thro the topic your involved in "Thread formerly known as hatch day is today" at the moment im on page 254 still got a lot to read lol but thats a cool topic and it seems that everyone involved is really nice people