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Sara_H

Bark chippings? / Run floor?

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Hi!

 

I am about to become the proud new mummy of some little ducklings (hatch)(duck) and am busy preparing their new home. The house I have built for them is pretty heavy so I wont be able to move it with ease so their run will have to stay in more or less the same place. I am concerned that if I leave the run as all grass it will turn in to a quagmire very fast - especially with all this rain!

I've heard that a good method of keeping chicken runs drier is to put bark chippings on the ground. Would this work for ducks too? Or is that a bad idea?

 

All advice will be gratefully received!

 

Thanks

 

x

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It's still under construction (!) but it is going to be about 4m x 2m - possibly slightly bigger - but at the moment its 4mx2m. We're getting three ducks to start off with but hoping to get more in the near future once we get the hang of it!

x

(duck)

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Just another conundrum!

We have built the run for our new ducks but have encountered a problem. :doh:

We've built it so there is wire mesh on the base (to stop any digging foxes and badgers!) Before I built the run I thought the grass would just poke through - however there is still quite a lot of mesh exposed and I am worried the ducks may hurt their feet if I do not cover it up with something.I thought about putting a layer of grass cuttings in there just to give a layer of protection.

Has anybody else encountered this problem/overcome it?

Or will the ducks be ok walking on the mesh (its all finished with no spikey bits)

 

All tips/ideas will be gratefully received!

Thank you in advance!

x

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Hi

 

I think you may have a problem here..ducks do have nails at the end of their web feet and their feet underside are not entirely flat(ie they raised areas) and they are prone to sores. So a possibiltiy is to turf it or compact it with soi. They dont scratch like chickens they use their bills to dabble in the grass(usually make little holes as they poke around).

 

 

Or slab it.

 

Hope you solve it or perhaps someone may have a better solution

 

indie

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Hi Indie and Lesley,

Thank you for your replies. I have a very large pile of old grass cuttings that have, over the years, turned into a form of compost so I think I will put a compacted layer of that on top of the mesh and then either grass it or turf it. Thanks again! I'd hate for them to hurt their feet so am very glad I asked. Thank you! :D

Sara x

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