How to make a Duck bed?

[SarahMay]

Looking for tips and tricks to make a Clean and comfortable duck bed. I have two male Indian Runner ducks and they are so messy compared to my chickens. They poop in their bedding. I just have them on hay in the corner of the barn on the floor and add new hay on top each day and replace it every 3 days... I was thinking of using a wire grate somehow but the idea never developed. My chickens perch in the night on branches above a grate and their poop falls onto a plastic sheet I take out and dump every 2 or 3 days.

 

[Amiga]

I use wood shavings, and I keep their water in a watering station that keeps the bedding from getting soaked. Every day I spot pick the bedding and fluff it.

 

[SarahMay]

How do you spot pick their poop? a glove or little shovel? Thanks for your input.

 

[Amiga]

A nitrile glove, or actually one of those three-pronged short-handled garden forks pull out the poo pretty well. That and a five gallon bucket, just pop the stuff you pick into the bucket. If you are a gardener, you can add that to the compost, or add water and use it as liquid fertilizer.

Excellent for the garden.

 

[quackingdom]

What about sand? I’ve read that it’s extremely easy to clean and I’m thinking about trying it whenever we make a permanent coop. This link talks about it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/using-sand-in-your-chicken-coop

 

[Amiga]

Sand can be good. I would like to add, with a big A N D . . . .

Slope and drainage are so gosh darn important, I don't know how to convey that.

If the pen bottom is a crater, no matter how shallow, and no matter whether you use sand or something else, water is going to collect in it, and there will be nasty odor (not because of poop as much as poop without oxygen). Lack of oxygen equals stink to the nth degree.

So - make sure the bottom of the pen slopes downward. Just a 2% slope (a couple of inches per hundred inches, about 1 inch per four feet), with either a channel into a garden bed, a mulch bed, a compost pile, or a low grassy area will tremendously improve the chances of avoiding unpleasant odor and onerous chores.

High-carbon materials such as leaves and mulch combine with the high nitrogen of manure and, if there is sufficent air, microbes will move in and make fertile soil. No waste! Win!

If you are not a gardener, you likely know someone who is, who would gladly trade enriched compost for produce. Just an idea.