Ducks are very noisy, and messy, yet people tend to pet them. Ducks also play in the water, swim in it, and mix with soil and water.
And guess what? No matter how many times you clean it, it’s difficult to monitor or keep the ducks away from the mess. We know ducks do not sit in one place for a minute, they are always up to some mess-makings.
Are you worried about how to keep duck beddings dry?
Well, to keep the beddings dry, you have to take some measures. You can add extra straws, or you can change the duck pen flooring into vinyl ones. Above all, you have to change the beddings frequently. Also, you have to set up the water buckets so that the beddings stay dry for a longer period of time.
However, the owner needs to come up with solutions in order to maintain effective pet care. Continue reading for the easy, quick, and effective steps.
Why Do Ducks Need Dry Bedding?
It’s very difficult to keep and maintain the duck’s living place clean. Therefore, sometimes you would feel to leave the place as they are. But you and your ducks will suffer the most. So, for various health and safety reasons, you should not let your duck pen be wet or muddy. Let’s look at them-
First of all, wet bedding has lots of drawbacks because you know when a place stays wet for some time. Here, various diseases start to grow. Also, there happen to be many flies and mosquitos. After all these bearings, you will have to bear the tacky smells.
Furthermore, this will cause lots of diseases to your ducks and ducklings. For ducklings, wet bedding is very uncomfortable and it becomes very difficult for them to live there. Also, your ducks will suffer from bumblefoot. It’s a very common disease for ducks and it is caused for wet beddings.
However, in short, your ducks and ducklings will suffer the most.
Some Tips to Avoid Wet Duck Pen?
Here are some tips in order to provide the best care to your ducks. And, it’ll help to avoid the wet duck pens. We’ve even provided some reasons simultaneously-
Ensure The Water Buckets with Boundaries
In order to keep your duck pen dry, you need to ensure some essentials first.
For example, you can’t keep the water buckets inside the duck pen. Then again, if you have to keep the water buckets inside, you need to build boundaries.
How can you do that? Well, the most common procedure is to put the water buckets inside an old tire. This will ensure that the ducks are not messing with water splashes.
Install Sheet or Blanket in Monsoon
In the rainy season, it is important to protect the bedding from rain and other moisture by covering it with a sheet or blanket. It may be necessary to construct extra walls if a cover is insufficient to keep the water out.
Frequently Change The Beddings
This is important yet tiring for the owner. The owner needs to take the challenge of this constant care of his ducks.
So, what’s the responsibility of the owner? Well, the owner must clean muddy beddings or straws that have been damp and replace the existing ones with dry bedding.
You should not wait until it becomes dry with evaporation. If you wait for this, you will get a smelly damp duck pen instead.
Keep Extra Straws in Duck Pen
Extra dry straws can help the bedding to stay dry and less messy. These extra straws will decrease the possibility of becoming wet bedding frequently.
Build Wet Proof Flooring
You can use vinyl to get the duck pen flooring done in order to keep the bedding dry for a longer time. Additionally, this will help the owner to clean the duck pen easily
Duck Pen Flooring Do’s & Dont’s
Well, there are do’s and don’ts that you can follow while building the flooring for your duck pen.
Starting with do’s, you can use wooden, cemented floors according to your capability. But the effective flooring is vinyl and stick maple plank. However, the vinyl ones are the most effective ones in keeping the floor from getting wet.
Plus, you can use newspaper, hay, extra straws, pine shavings, dry leaves, etc for keeping the duck pen dry for a longer time.
Starting with don’ts- you should not use cedar shavings as it has a strong smell and it has natural oils which are toxic and not safe for the ducks.
Steps to Keep Duck Bedding Dry
As we know ducks play with water, they swim there, and then they came back to the duck pen.
Meanwhile, water and mud mix, ducks get dirty, and the duck place gets muddy and messy. So keeping the duck bedding dry is difficult and tiring. However, as an owner, you can keep duck bedding dry by following the steps below-
Water Location
Ducks have the tendency to splash water when they don’t like the water spot. So, to avoid this you have to cope with the preference for ducks.
If it’s possible you can place it just near outside the duck pen. It would make ducks feel free to play with water and make a mess.
Attach Water Buckets or Bowls to The Floor
You can do this to keep the ducks away from slipping out of the water bowl. As ducks love to be around water. So, you have to fix the water buckets with something so that ducks do not get the chance to mess things up inside the duck pen.
You can use the old tire boundary method to keep the ducks away from splashing water.
Do Not Put Water Buckets Inside The Duck Coop All Night
As ducks have the tendency to become too playful, it is wise to put the water buckets at a longer distance. Or else, ducks will play with water all night. Then the ducks will leave the duck coop for their owner to clean up the mess.
How Often to Change Duck Bedding?
Well, you have to change the beddings for ducks frequently and thorough cleaning every 6 months. Why? Well, it is important to make the duck pen clean and dry.
What you can do is, first you have to throw away the existing wet and muddy straws and other damp things. Then, you can add extra fresh straws. It will give a clean and fresh smell.
Additional Tips
- The most used and effective way is to put extra straws inside the duck pen.
- You can put a soaking mat around the duck pen so that when the ducks enter the house, the soaked mat can absorb the extra water.
FAQs
Which flooring is the best for keeping the duck pen dry?
Vinyl flooring is the best one as it is cheap and also it keeps the bedding dry even if you leave water out inside overnight.
How to keep duck pens non-smelly?
You have to change the bedding frequently and use dry litter in the duck pen once a week.
Which flooring is toxic for duck pens?
Cedar shavings are toxic and harmful to ducks.
Verdict
To summarize, hopefully, you have understood how to keep duck bedding dry. I hope you have realized the importance of keeping the duck beddings dry for the ducklings and for the ducks, also for your own good sake.
Why? Because you don’t want a tacky smell around your house, or you don’t want to pet care of the flies and mosquitoes with lots of diseases for your ducks.
Until next time, keep your duck pen clean.
- Can Ducks Eat Mushrooms? [Explained With Facts] - August 17, 2023
- Will Cayenne Pepper Keep Ducks Away? Answered in Detail - August 1, 2023
- Can Geese Eat Bananas? [Properly Answered] - June 27, 2023
