Owning ducks can be a lovely experience, these birds are fun to have around, but what isn’t fun is the bird pooping everywhere and you having to clean after them.
These birds poop every 15 minutes, so cleanup can be a bit of a hassle. This article will teach you how to clean duck poop from grass
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How to clean duck poop from grass:
If you want to maintain a clean property, and a clean duck run, then cleaning up your duck’s poop is a must. If you don’t do this then the bird’s run, and your whole property, will be covered in poop and everything will smell really bad.
Thankfully, or unfortunately in some cases, duck poop does not dry as quickly as chicken poop, it can’t be scooped up but it can be hosed down.
Duck poop is packed with a variety of nutrients, but this doesn’t mean that it will “burn” the grass like chicken poop will, duck poop has the benefit of being nutrient-rich and safe to use on grass.
You can simply hose down the duck poop on your lawn to clean it up. The poop will settle into the grass and enrich the soil helping the grass grow better.
Keeping the bird’s grassy run clean:
If your ducks run has grass on it you may want to add pea gravel onto the grass. Using pea gravel in your duck run is recommended as it will help the poop and water drain quicker than an area with just grass.
Quick drainage is needed in the bird’s run as the bird’s health can suffer if the area where they retreat isn’t well drained.
You can also use regular-sized gravel if you don’t have access to pea gravel.
Create a slope away from your duck’s pen so that the water and manure don’t puddle in certain areas but rather run off away from the pen.
Unlike chicken poop, which is solid and well-formed, duck poop is quite runny so scraping it up may be a bit of a challenge, but hosing it down on a bed of pea gravel works well.
On your outside surfaces:
If your ducks have pooped on the grass on your property then they may have also pooped on hard surfaces like concrete areas on your property as well. You can use a hose to spray this duck poop away.
If the duck poop left a poop stain that is visible, even after hosing off, then you can clean this off using a stiff brush and some elbow grease. Grab your stiff brush and scrub at the stain, you’d need to scrub quite hard to get the poop off.
You can also use bleach along with the stiff brush to get the stains off. Rinse the floor off after this.
If the stain doesn’t come off completely then you may need to use muriatic acid to remove it. Muriatic acid is a concentrated acid-base stain remover than can clean hard surfaces like concrete.
Make sure that you use this chemical at the correct dilution to keep from damaging your landscape.
If you do choose to use this chemical make sure that you wear the correct PPE and keep your ducks away from it as it can be dangerous to you and your ducks.
Note:
Ducks are creatures of habit, these animals will find a spot they like, and loiter around there. If your bird does this then it will poop in one spot. Duck poop may be good for grass but too much is not good for the grass.
Too much of this poop can cause your grass to turn yellow or brown which means that the grass is sick, has gone dormant, has an imbalance of nutrients, has a disease, or is dead.
If you’re letting your birds roam around you can move their feeders and waterers to allow them to spread their poop more evenly.
Keeping ducks away from grass:
Using repellents on your grass to keep ducks away is also a good idea if you don’t want the birds pooping on the grass.
You can repel these animals using smells that they hate, ducks are known to hate the smell of lemon, vinegar, chili, cayenne pepper, chili, as well as peppermint
You can also mix the above substances with water, put this mixture into a spray bottle, and use it on the grass.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other duck related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Waterlogged Duckling, How To Train Ducks To Go In At Night, Duckling Hatched Too Early, Waterlogged Duckling Symptoms
