City Boy Needs To Know About Hay

[Nyboy]

My ducks have a small dog house for shelter. I would like to put some bedding inside to make it more comfortable for them. Living in a city I don't have many choices where I can buy supplies, Tractor supply seems to have what I need. I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of different hays everything from Timothy to alfalfa, straw to mixed. What is best to use for bedding

 

[Just-Moxie]

Do ducks have a preference? I am a city slicker myself, and didn't know there was a difference between hay and straw. Hay is food, straw is bedding. Hay is the dried grass blades, having more nutrients for livestock. Straw is the stalks of crops like wheat(?). Okay country folk.....correct me if I am wrong.

For my chickens, I use straw only. It breaks down into deep litter, gives them something to dig in for those missed grain hulls, and the bugs that hide in them.

Ducks, on the other hand....are entirely different creatures. They like water, make tons of slimy poo, love to eat slugs...did I mention they like water?

Please don't take my post as knowledge....it is merely what I have learned in BYC and with my own chickens. And the 6 ducks that adopted me back in 2012. They have since left and I am back to chickens.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

straw is what you use for bedding. i use mostly pine shavings for the chickens, but if i want things to smell nice in my coop once in awhile i will get a bale of hay to throw down for my chickens. the chickens will pick at it like they would grass but i have to be careful with putting too much in at a time.

with ducks i know my boss uses mostly straw. she had mentioned that the pine shavings would need to be constantly cleaned out from the water that would be splashed around from the ducks drinking. shavings i do know will sop up water very quickly & become a mess in no time from it breaking down quickly.

 

[seedcorn]

Straw is for bedding-mainly.

 

[Nyboy]

Straw it is. ducks water is outside

 

[majorcatfish]

you might think about this..... rosemary, sage, juniper berries, nutmeg and bay leaves.....sure sounds better to my taste buds......

 

[Ridgerunner]

you might think about this..... rosemary, sage, juniper berries, nutmeg and bay leaves.....sure sounds better to my taste buds......

He's taking about bedding, not baking.

 

[majorcatfish]

He's taking about bedding, not baking.

what was i thinking.....me bad

 

[seedcorn]

Where my folks retired, local sausage maker put straw in his product. Yuck.....but cheap filler.

 

[Beekissed]

Gonna be a lot of work keeping a pen of ducks clean and dry this spring and summer, NY. They tend to be very....moist...in all they do. That means a LOT of raking out, putting down dry in order to keep them from stinking and to keep them healthy.