In need of some Duck coop help!

[Sammbalina]

Pea gravel. You can hose it off and the waste will just sink below it. Pavers or concrete of any sort will be hard on webbed feet. It will increase the possibility of getting bumblefoot (not assured - but increase it). If you dig out an area and add a drain pipe underneath it will be even bettter.
*I am close to stopping giving them water in the duck house at night. But so far I do and it makes it pretty messy.

I'm planning on using bedding on top of the pavers. Pea gravel seems like it would just let the poop sit in it and cause it to stink. How are you supposed to wash the gravel? Does the poop not build up over time to the point it is no longer able to sink into the gravel? There is only so much space between the gravel, wouldn't you eventually have to dig it all out and replace it? The poop just sitting stuck between the gravel sounds unsanitary. That's why I'm thinking pavers with bedding. Clean out the bedding, spray off the pavers into a drain system, and add the bedding to the compost pile.

If you are not on well drained sandy soil like we are, you might consider using large rubber mats from Tractor Supply. I think they are called horse mats. Expensive but durable. Make sure your floor slopes slightly to one side so that it will drain if it gets wet. Do your deep layering of bedding on top of the mats.

We are in Alabama... Red Clay EVERYWHERE! Absolutely terrible drainage, and I like the idea of the rubber mats! Also, we are now part of tornado alley, Tarps don't last here anymore so a kennel covered with tarps isn't going to work here, we actually have one that we used for our guineas, we had coyotes dig in and the tarps we had on it shredded, though it didn't help that the dumb birds tried roosting on top of it and tore holes in it. We also had some on our fences as a visual block between the goose breeding pens. They didn't even make it through one breeding season... Going to have to figure something else out for next year...

 

[davez]

Duck waste will break down quickly. My ducks are currently on dirt/mud and there is no build up. Pea gravel has been recommended by a few duck breeders of note. So I beleive it would be good. It is on my to-do list. I have not implmented it yet. But you could add a drain away underneath the pea gravel for increased evacuation if you wanted to. You just hose it down to clean it. Super low maintenance / low effort. Keeping straw or other bedding fresh is pretty high maintenance by way of comparison.

 

[ruthhope]

Mine is an A frame 8x8, i put expanded mesh down on the floor joists and lined it with stall mats. They don’t foster bacteria growth or support bugs. Easy to shovel the shavings off and if you need to hose them they dry quickly, but I never have had to.

I like your coop: unfortunately my carpentry skills are not up to an A frame. [I did correct a design flaw in my son's coop, building a curved roof to replace his corrugated plastic and cgi roof that pooled water, but for that I only had to cut an 8x2 into two 4x2s and join 90degree corners. The curve was made with mason's ladders stuck into drilled holes in the oblong frame)

Are the stall mats what I referred to as horse mats, but knew that might not be the right term? Large heavy duty rubber mats from TSC or similar source? I particularly like your floor. If I were not on sand, where I can put hardware cloth straight on the ground and then pile on leaves and pine shavings, I would build a floor like yours. Unfortunately, I have a carpenter ants problem and my woodframe duck house was destroyed at the ground level after only 2 years

 

[ruthhope]

We are in Alabama... Red Clay EVERYWHERE! Absolutely terrible drainage, and I like the idea of rubber mats!!

I think from what @Stoney Meadow Maple wrote above, the durable rubber mats are better known as stall mats not horse mats. I really like the floor of Stoney Meadow Maple's A frame duck house: I think that would meet your needs.

I think pea gravel can be hard on duck's feet. Maybe only for weighty birds (my flock is mainly enormous muscovy drakes.) My son who has a laying Pekin flock, does have pea gravel round his wading pool and filling a French drain in his pen (not his duck house). But he has leaves and bedding dug out from his duck house on top of the pea gravel to protect the little webbed feet.

 

[Sammbalina]

Keeping straw or other bedding fresh is pretty high maintenance by way of comparison.

We would do a deep litter method, only cleaning it out once a month, possibly longer during the colder months so they can stay warm, adding bedding to the top as needed, and use dry grass from our pasture when it's available. We are on red clay and really need the manure/compost for our garden which was why we are planning on going the bedding route. At least the work gives us a byproduct we can use, and right now we are constantly moving the coop, so a bit of hard work once a month or so compared to every week and sometimes twice a week is a lot better.

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

I think from what @Stoney Meadow Maple wrote above, the durable rubber mats are better known as stall mats not horse mats. I really like the floor of Stoney Meadow Maple's A frame duck house: I think that would meet your needs.

I think pea gravel can be hard on duck's feet. Maybe only for weighty birds (my flock is mainly enormous muscovy drakes.) My son who has a laying Pekin flock, does have pea gravel round his wading pool and filling a French drain in his pen (not his duck house). But he has leaves and bedding dug out from his duck house on top of the pea gravel to protect the little webbed feet.

This is what it looks like when cleaned out

 

[Suprasoup]

I used a pond liner with a bottom drain and a couple inches of pea gravel. Hose the poop off with water and the poop flows to the bottom drain and then into a settling tank where it can be pumped to the fruit trees or garden. It can also be flooded so that all the floaty bits like down and feathers are skimmed off the top into the bottom drain. Ducks love it when I flood their pen. They drill in the pea gravel lofting all the stuck poop which eventually ends up in the settling chamber.

 

[deer trail duck farms]

if you could find the metal top from a silo someone is removing would be great. lots of room and can walk in to clean.