Runner Ducks...Is it ok

[josaphine32]

I hatched 3 runner duck chicks last may ( i do love them dearly) but as we have had such a cold winter I kept them in my built in back door shed over the winter and no word of a lie every morning its like sh@t alley, you could slip up on it, they are always cleaned out, I think sometimes it would have been easier to keep horses.but now the weather has changed I have bought them a shed down the bottom of the garden,( which is huge council garden) I cant cope any longer as they were so messy, They have layers pellets as well as corn all day, a fresh bowl of pasta every evening as well as a hung up cabbage and fresh or cooked ( which they prefer ) vegetables...but I give them fresh water every two to three hours up until 8pm at night. they are little drilling riggs they trash there house completely with wet bedding as they spray it everywhere, Is it ok to leave them without water from say 5pm till 8am,

[josaphine32]

I meant the garden is a huge council garden...not the shed

[josaphine32]

minging is a mild word that I could use, surely runner ducks which are not water wading ducks....need water 24 seven they must sleep at some point 4 at least 7 hours. come on the sh@t is a night mare when you add water.

[josaphine32]

I have left a large pyrex size bowl half full of water tonight, But within an hour its drowned in sawdust....shortplanks....what would you suggest, The shed is 8 x 6 apex I have 3 ducks water is away away from there bed and this new shed is angled forward, I dont want to harm my ducks in any way, but to get through £8.00 of a bail of sawdust everyweek to keep them on dry bedding is a nightmare as well as getting rid if it, what would you do they have loads of access to water through out the day outside of there house.

[ruthann58]

if they have a run why cant they have their water outside dont put it in their shed can you not make their bedding area contained in one corner of the shed so they hop in to it a plank of wood nailed across one corner would be ok then put them some shavings in that , dont buy your shavings from a pet shop go to a horse feed supplier i only use one bale for a horse a week at 7-50 a bale that weighs 22kgs