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Cleaning my duck pen

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Ryan M

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I had an old chicken coop on my property and I decided to turn it into a duck pen to hold some birds for training. It has a concrete floor and concrete side walls so it doesnt drain at all. The ducks are messy of course and slop water everywhere. Its very hard to keep clean. Any ideas on how I could keep it cleaner?

Also, is there a soap or a kennel cleaning solution that I could use to wash the floor off and get rid of the smell without poisoning the ducks? Thanks.
 
#3 ·
You could put pine bedding/shavings down all in there. You can get a HUGE bag at tractor supply for around $5. When it starts to get smelly messy, just have a huge shovel to shovel it out in a bag. The pine bedding will help absorb alot of nastiness and the water that gets slopped out everywhere. I would think a bleach/water mixture would do a fine cleaning job about once a week or so depending on how many ducks you have.
 
#4 ·
Ducks on concrete with no drainage is gonna be alot of work. The only thing I can suggest is wood shavings, like a top bedding and your gonna have to rake it up and put new shavings in every few days.
 
#5 ·
the ducks are not going to like the concrete, you are better off throwing a couple of hundred pounds of sand on the floor...or even possibly kitty litter
 
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#6 ·
What the disposal area where the duck poop is washed. I guy here lost an FC/AFC bitch because the dog ate the poop when the bird cage was cleaned out.
 
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Discussion starter · #7 ·
Im starting to think its not going to work to keep the ducks in there. Way to hard to keep clean. Perhaps I should put pigeons in there and build a small outside pen for the ducks.

My only other thoughts were to drill holes in the concrete floor and sides of the walls for water drainage but im not sure it would actually drain through the solid ground underneath.
 
#8 ·
Buy a crate of ducks. Shoot 'em. Freeze some. Buy a crate of ducks. Shoot 'em. Freeze some.
 
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#9 ·
Shavings will work, but the key will be to control the water. Take a look at the pens at this site - the water is outside the pen on wire. http://holderreadfarm.com/photogallery/photo_gallery_home_page/photo_gallery_home.htm

An other option is shavings plus placing the water pan on an elevated wire platform, and a catch pan under it to catch all the excess water. Or split the pen and put in a large water trough, but only fill it half way, use a ramp in and out of it and have a wire platform around the water tub so that the water that drips off the birds stays out of the shavings.

Duck density is also a key. I find that 4 mallards or 6 call ducks is the right amount to keep a 6 x 6 pen with shavings and a controlled water area clean. It requires cleaning once a week by removing some of the shavings and the fecal material. It is not a wet smelly mess.
 
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#12 ·
Personally, I would stay away from shavings on top of the concrete. This will create more work than just having your ducks directly on the concrete. The shavings get wet and retain the smell. It's bad, bad stuff...especially on those hot and humid summer days.

A raised wire-bottomed pen is your best bet if you're wanting to keep some ducks. The next best option is to free-range them over a large area. Someone else mentioned density, which is a big factor. The more ducks in a given area, the more water, mess and smell.
 
#13 ·
Kirk Keene said:
Personally, I would stay away from shavings on top of the concrete. This will create more work than just having your ducks directly on the concrete. The shavings get wet and retain the smell. It's bad, bad stuff...especially on those hot and humid summer days.
Click to expand...
I was going to say the same thing. I raised three in my garage last winter and had them on shavings and straw. It was terrible to clean....dry heaving, eye watering terrible.
 
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Kirk Keene
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