Wow! The mess. Newbie shocked.

[Deleted member 94844]

My husband wants to add some chickens to the flock but I've been resistant for the reasons you mentioned.

Now that the girls are finally laying delicious eggs, it is somewhat worth the effort... but if I had realized how messy they would actually be I might have reconsidered. Problem is, these are very sweet and affectionate chickens and I'm attached to them now. Hopefully I'll be able to hone a system so that they aren't so high-maintenance. I do really appreciate the duck poop now... it is awesome when compared to dog and chicken sh!t

 

[GoingQuackers]

Now that the girls are finally laying delicious eggs, it is somewhat worth the effort... but if I had realized how messy they would actually be I might have reconsidered. Problem is, these are very sweet and affectionate chickens and I'm attached to them now. Hopefully I'll be able to hone a system so that they aren't so high-maintenance. I do really appreciate the duck poop now... it is awesome when compared to dog and chicken sh!t

DH wants the chickens for the eggs but guess who does all the feeding & cleanup for all of God's creatures on our property now??? Not him! He & my kids have a great tendency to see animals that they want & then leave the caretaking duties to Big Mama (me, of course). As I type, DH's female dachshund that he wanted so desperately to be his loyal companion is trying to push my laptop out of my lap so she can cuddle! All animals tend to know instinctively who feeds them, takes care of them when they're sick, etc.

 

[Deleted member 94844]

DH wants the chickens for the eggs but guess who does all the feeding & cleanup for all of God's creatures on our property now???

I only have four hens and can just barely manage the chaos. It is a large coop for four (about 5x5 in an over/under design), but not so big that it is a ton of work to clean, even hosing it daily and scrubbing out weekly. I'm still tuning the maintenance routine. If DH really wants chicken eggs I would recommend a smaller flock that is easy to manage. I let them out to free range for a few hours every day, usually in the morning and late afternoon. I sometimes leave them out all day if we are working in the yard and can watch them, otherwise they make too much of a mess. They can be extremely destructive when unattended. The four girls get on very well and I haven't had any issues with bad behaviors (knock wood). If I could go back in time, knowing what I know now, I might choose adding more female ducks instead for the eggs. I only have drakes now. The fresh chicken eggs are very delicious though and the family loves them.

 

[creaturelife]

i have 14 duck 5 mallards and 9 scovy i just watch my biggest drake breed one of his girl i watch for breeding we have breeding all the time here with the pigs and chicken and now with the ducks

 

[GoingQuackers]

Love is in the air!

 

[creaturelife]

lol so true but only with the scovy my one of my male mallard will mount his girl but his penis wont come out for him to breed idk why he is 9 months old should he be able to do it already or does he not know what to do when he gets on top of her but he does see the scovy breed

 

[creaturelife]

lol so true but only with the scovy my one of my male mallard will mount his girl but his penis wont come out for him to breed idk why he is 9 months old should he be able to do it already or does he not know what to do when he gets on top of her but he does see the scovy breed

 

[ktduck]

Now, see, I totally disagree... my chickens are WAY more of a mess than my ducks. I have a really good system for our ducks and they barely make a mess at all. We built a pond and almost all of the poop stays there. Anything on the patios gets hosed into the border gardens and the plants love it. When they were brooding in the house we switched from shavings to bath towels and the world changed. The chickens are disgusting. First, their poop is totally gross. Duck poop is like dirt, barely smells, and washes off easily... the chicken poop is greasy and resists hosing, plus it stains and stinks to high heaven. I need to hose their coop out every day. The duck pen only needs to be hosed once a week. What's worse, the chicken poop is too strong and harms the plants in the garden. Many near the coop have died. More, when I let the chickens free range in the yard they poop all over my outdoor furniture (ducks can't), get up in my raised planting beds and destroy my plants (ducks can't), and kick dirt and mulch all over the place (ducks don't). All of my border gardens are a mess now, and they were perfectly fine when it was just the ducks. The chickens also spill their food no matter what type of container I use. The ducks keep themselves extremely clean and require little maintenance. The chickens roll around the dirt and get covered in poop so I need to bathe them almost weekly to keep them clean. I love the chickens dearly, but when I got them I never thought in a million years that they would be messier than DUCKS. They are, by a large margin.

I have ducks but my girl friend has chickens, to prevent her chickens from coming into the patio and crapping everywhere she bought some toy rubber snakes, the chickens won't go near anything that has the toy snake on it or infront, perhaps u could try this?

 

[moms Tree]

Hey... I like the rubber snake idea... I'm hoping the mess will be better this Spring, when they can go out and about... it's so cold here, now, they have to stay in their house all the time.

 

[GentFarmer]

Now, see, I totally disagree... my chickens are WAY more of a mess than my ducks. ... I never thought in a million years that they would be messier than DUCKS. They are, by a large margin.

Hey! Just a note of gratitude for taking the time to write a positive experience re: messy ducklings. I have a hobby farm with chickens and a full-blown rabbitry with more rabbits than I can shake a stick at. I'm accustomed to dealing with poop, mucking out coops and stalls, and carting various manure types all over the garden and changing out bedding in my ENTIRE run. And even I was starting to feel a bit like maybe I was making a mistake in bringing these 10 ducklings home in a couple weeks. Thanks for adding a bit of weight on the counterbalance.