Hi Ash,
Even if you just have dogs in the neighborhood, you want to make sure the pen is secure -- including a roof. Do you have hawks? They can kill a duck in no time flat -- our Quackers is terrified of them. She is constantly watching the sky and she'll come running to me when she sees one!! (I must look like quite the fool: waving my arms and "shooing" the BIG BAD MEANY HAWK away!!
I just came in from cleaning Quackers pen a bit. Yes, you need to clean the poop -- lots of different ways to do it. We line her pen with a bunch of hay in the winter (although we're going to switch to straw next time I hit the farm store -- it's supposed to be better because they won't be as tempted to eat it -- which could cause an impacted crop ...
So I just clean off the top layer of hay and out goes the poop!
In the summer, I hose things down more. Since it's a chain link enclosure, and it's sloped a bit, the dirty poopey water just runs down and fertilizers the grass. Good deal!
However you do it, it's important to keep it clean -- and to keep the bedding dry. Ducks can get sick from the mold that spawns in the wet bedding. We have her pen covered with several tarps -- I also put plexiglass panels over it for the winter. That way she can still see out and it feels like "outside", but it keeps the wind out and also the rain and snow.
Another thing to be cautious of is any shiny metal foreign object (coins, screws, staples, wire, etc). Ducks will eat it and it can kill them. It's really sad and easy to prevent if you know up front. Just be careful when you work on the pen to pick up all the nails and stuff.
Quackers eats duck chow. We get it at the feed store and it's relatively cheap. 25 lbs bag for less than $10 ... and she doesn't eat that much. I supplement it with greens, tomatoes, pears, apples, carrots and some corn. Have to watch the corn, since it's fattening ... but in the winter I think the extra fat is probably good. Other treats are mozzarella (she LOVES IT!!!) and meal worms (she TOTALLY loves them ... I get them from www.thewormman.com -- way cheaper than local pet stores and they have good service).
You could get the feed the web, too, if you didn't have a local place. It would probably cost as much to ship as it does for the feed. Not sure .... but you want to use duck chow, not something like medicated chicken food -- that's not good.
We have a great e group at yahoo where there are others who can tell you a lot more. The mom of Nibbles the duck (a former pet of the day ... Nibbles, I mean, not mom) is on that group ... that's I got on here, too. You can join us and find out more duck info here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/petducksrus/join
I hope that helps. Ducks are GREAT pets!!!
deb
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