Duck coop/run floor

[Aswilson1989]

What do you use for the floor of the duck coop and duck run? And how do you keep the floor clean so your not just walking on duck poop every time you walk in?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I use leaf litter and let it slow compost as part of a deep litter system. Dirt underneath the leaf litter. Technically, sandy clays and clay-ey sands. Dries hard as concrete, doesn't drain well.

The ducks use it as next material sometimes, it allows plenty of airflow for their wet droppings so they don't pile up and stank like an open sewer, and it requires minimal maintenance on my part. I did try pea gravel, briefly, near their water source. Worst mistake I have made so far in my poultry owning experiences. Filled with duck crap, water, food residue - resulting odor was even worse than the open sewer smell of collected wet duck poops, and damn near impossible to clean, even with a hose and sprayer.

 

[Alaskan]

For me the key was a huge run, and then in the coop use wood chips/shavings that are changed out often...

And wear rubber boots.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I also do deep litter but with pine shavings. My coop/run is covered so only hard rain goes in. My ducks are only in it at night.

 

[Suprasoup]

My duck pen is pond lined with a drain at the bottom. On top of the pond liner is about 3” of pea gravel. I have a pump on a timer that floods/drains their pen once per day. I spot clean the big poops with a garden hose. Pea gravel drains quickly and dries even quicker. I love it.

 

[aart]

My duck pen is pond lined with a drain at the bottom. On top of the pond liner is about 3” of pea gravel. I have a pump on a timer that floods/drains their pen once per day. I spot clean the big poops with a garden hose. Pea gravel drains quickly and dries even quicker. I love it.
View attachment 2740811

Sounds great!
Where does the drainage go?
Any pics of how you built this?

Also....Belated Welcome to BYC! @Suprasoup
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[Suprasoup]

Sounds great!
Where does the drainage go?
Any pics of how you built this?

Also....Belated Welcome to BYC! @Suprasoup
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

Thx for the tips as the welcome! I added my location and my new members intro In the my coop space where some pics of my setup is located. Guess I should have made a build thread In the duck forum

Living in the desert I try to be a bit water miserly. One of my main considerations when designing the ducks pond and pen was keeping water use to a minimum by filtering their water. I also wanted to keep my maintenance to a bare minimum.

The duck pen has two sources of water. One is the self replenishing duck bucket. It flows roughly a 2-3 gallon/hr. The other is the timed pump that draws water from the duck pond. The pump comes on once per day and is mainly to draw the ducks poop down into the pea gravel so the ducks aren’t constantly stepping on their poop. The duck bucket keeps the flow into the settling tank constant so that it doesn’t stagnate and start to smell. I normally have a plastic weir over the drainage hole that keeps large objects from blocking the hole. I also have a precut length of pvc that allows me to flood the duck pen. When flooded the water level is slightly above the pea gravel. Floaty bits such as their down and oil is easier to export this way. I sometimes will leave it flooded for half the day. The ducks love it and they root around in the pea gravel stirring up settled junk that eventually flows out the drain. For those familiar with aquaponics I also have a homemade bell siphon that I can place over the pvc pipe. This lets me do multiple flood drains cycles to further export poop. Getting the flow right has been hit or miss so sometimes the siphon doesn’t break properly.


The drainage goes to a settling tank in the sump where the poop/down/feathers collects/concentrates. I let it build up for about a week before I pump it out into the garden. It makes great fertilizer!


I didn’t take many pics during the build. Here’s a pic of the sump, duck pen, and duck pond as I started the build. Might be hard to see but the pvc pipes for the drains are being test fitted for the pen and duck pond. The pond liner that the garden hose is laying on redirects runoff from the roof into the sump.


Semi Finished product. Still need to build them a decent ramp. I use the grey hose to pump out the sludgy from the settling tank into the garden.

 

[Regina Larsen]

What do you use for the floor of the duck coop and duck run? And how do you keep the floor clean so your not just walking on duck poop every time you walk in?

Half my floor is wood with linoleum - thats the 'dry' side where they sleep, with pine shavings laid down. Other part is sand. I put down a barrier of concrete block after we pulled up the wood floor on that side (it had rotted so fast!) its about 13" deep wicks right to soil. Over this i have a 4'x6' industrial lightweight floormat that we pull out, hang on hooks and rinse off daily. Yuck mostly stays on the mat and excess water wicks into the sand. Less than 5 min to pull it, hang and rinse it and spot pull up dooky areas of pine shavings, usually just a few handfulls. Using SO much less shavings with this system too. And the mat sits right at the door, so you pull it out while standing on the porch - never have to step in dooky to get it out to the pen/hook.

 

[Regina Larsen]

Thx for the tips as the welcome! I added my location and my new members intro In the my coop space where some pics of my setup is located. Guess I should have made a build thread In the duck forum

Living in the desert I try to be a bit water miserly. One of my main considerations when designing the ducks pond and pen was keeping water use to a minimum by filtering their water. I also wanted to keep my maintenance to a bare minimum.

The duck pen has two sources of water. One is the self replenishing duck bucket. It flows roughly a 2-3 gallon/hr. The other is the timed pump that draws water from the duck pond. The pump comes on once per day and is mainly to draw the ducks poop down into the pea gravel so the ducks aren’t constantly stepping on their poop. The duck bucket keeps the flow into the settling tank constant so that it doesn’t stagnate and start to smell. I normally have a plastic weir over the drainage hole that keeps large objects from blocking the hole. I also have a precut length of pvc that allows me to flood the duck pen. When flooded the water level is slightly above the pea gravel. Floaty bits such as their down and oil is easier to export this way. I sometimes will leave it flooded for half the day. The ducks love it and they root around in the pea gravel stirring up settled junk that eventually flows out the drain. For those familiar with aquaponics I also have a homemade bell siphon that I can place over the pvc pipe. This lets me do multiple flood drains cycles to further export poop. Getting the flow right has been hit or miss so sometimes the siphon doesn’t break properly.

View attachment 2743901
The drainage goes to a settling tank in the sump where the poop/down/feathers collects/concentrates. I let it build up for about a week before I pump it out into the garden. It makes great fertilizer!
View attachment 2744141View attachment 2744140

I didn’t take many pics during the build. Here’s a pic of the sump, duck pen, and duck pond as I started the build. Might be hard to see but the pvc pipes for the drains are being test fitted for the pen and duck pond. The pond liner that the garden hose is laying on redirects runoff from the roof into the sump.
View attachment 2744125

Semi Finished product. Still need to build them a decent ramp. I use the grey hose to pump out the sludgy from the settling tank into the garden.
View attachment 2744130

Great work, i love your approach

 

[DuckDuckSook]

I use a vinyl shed for my chicken/duck coop. It has a vinyl floor that I cover with several inches of pine shavings that I mix up every day. I change out a portion of it about every 5-7 days or so by just raking it out into the run. Then a few days after that, I end up shoveling out the run and start the process again. I also use hay in half of my run by the watering and feeding station. I put new hay on top whenever it looks to be wet and poopy. My waterers and feeders are on top of a framed out platform with lattice and chicken wire on it. I call it their "kitchen". The water and food spills fall through to the bottom and underneath the platform I laid down a nice layer of pea gravel. This set up has helped with drainage and mud. The days that I shovel out the dirty pine shavings from the run I also replace the hay. We have sheep and I just gather any hay they have left on the ground near their feeder since they won't eat it anyway. I don't keep food or water in the coop, just in the run. I have a poop board in the coop under my chicken roosts and I scrape that off every day too.