Do I have to use a wood floor for my duck house?

[austroberta]

My ducklings are 6-1/2 weeks old, feathered quite nicely and we're all ready for them to make their move to the big house. Most of the duck houses I've seen have been elevated and with wooden floors. I was hoping to use the deep litter method and wanted to avoid elevating the house. My plan is to put hardware cloth beneath the inside of the house, packing decomposed granite that I have from another gardening project on top of that and then putting my regular shavings on top. .

The actual frame of the house will be on concrete blocks and I plan on treating the wood on all sides with a wood preservative.

I'm new to this, so I'm hoping to hear comments/suggestions from folks who've been there done that.

Thanks so much!

 

[CntryBoy777]

Not sure wbere ya are located, but here our ducks are on dirt. We use the deep bedding method and use hay....bermuda is what is sold here....they have been on hay since we got them as day olds, about a year and a half ago. Our duck area is under the chicken house that does have a wood floor. I have hardware cloth around the entire bottom with about a 6" lip on the outside, all the way around. When I clean it out, I let it air dry and the ducks the opportunity to gather whatever bugs they can find...then before I put them in for the night I redo the bedding with fresh hay. It has worked just fine for us here...year round....but, it doesn't get cold enough for the ground to freeze much either....our frostline is only about a foot deep.

 

[austroberta]

Thanks for your response! I'm here in Oakland California, and we rarely get frosts, let alone freezing weather.

Does the wood on the frame rot? Is it directly on the ground?

Thanks!

 

[CarleeAnn]

We have our duck house made from cinder blocks with a dirt floor and pine shavings. I don’t do the deep litter method but I definetly could, by the time I clean out their bedding it’s pretty compacted and I could see it decomposing well. I just scoop it out and replace it though. My ducks seem to enjoy it, no problems here! It’s just looks a little ghetto, haha. I attached a link with a thread that has some videos of them gladly going in for bedtime and eagerly coming out in the morning. Good luck!



https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/goodnight-and-goodmorning-ducks.1194502/

 

[CntryBoy777]

Thanks for your response! I'm here in Oakland California, and we rarely get frosts, let alone freezing weather.

Does the wood on the frame rot? Is it directly on the ground?

Thanks!

I used presure treated wood for the framing that is in contact with the ground. I will get some pics a little later and post for ya here, so ya can see what I did.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Got the pics for ya...
This is the duck side of the yard and the open gate in the lower left of the building is their bedding area....it is 6'x8' area....as the building is 8'x12' overall. Here is another angle... ...as ya can see 1 of the 12 going in to get a few pellets. This next one shows the chicken side... ...their gate is open at the bottom and there is a ramp that goes up into the floor of the house to the roosts and nest areas. Half of the inside is not used regularly and is a separation/brooding area. The stilt supports for the building are all 4x4s. Hopefully, the pics make some sense of what I was trying to convey with words...

 

[austroberta]

Thanks CarleeAnn, your ducks are heart-meltingly adorable! I think I'm tying myself in knots trying to protect my 3 little gals from the nasty critters. We have lots of raccoons, skunks and possums that pass through our yard and I know they would love a few duck heads. With your set up have you ever had problems with predators trying to dig their way in?

 

[austroberta]

Thanks Countryboy777! What a cool setup! Do the ducks ascend to the first level to sleep and are then locked up for the night? I was planning on a much smaller footprint of a 1 story house. The ducks will spend the night inside the house, on the floor, which I plan on topping with shavings. I'm trying to get a feel for whether or not the setup will encourage either rot or predators.

 

[CntryBoy777]

My original intentions was for that to happen, but it worked out that they are only on the vround floor and they are just fine as it is. We have possums, coons, fox, and coyote as land predators with a few bobcat. They have never been attacked and I have dispatched several coon and possum along the outside fence, but never any evidence of anything getting into the yard. The ducks are locked up in their area every night as are the chickens. It isn't very far from the house and we check for sounds thru the evening. I do want to get some cameras up...just in case.

 

[Duckworth]

Check the requirements of your local ordinances about whether you need a solid surface floor. Our city ordinance says we would have to have one if our premises are less than 7500 square feet. Ours is just over that, but to avoid any dispute, I did build my house and pen on a deck of pressure-treated 3/4" plywood over pressure treated 2x6s set on concrete deck piers. I built in a slight slope to the NE corner of both house and pen. The house is built onto the NE corner of the pen, but is raised four inches to avoid any water running into the house. I do deep litter on my decking and in the duck house. The cleanout door on the NE corner of the pen makes it easy to scoop or rake out.