In my last blog I wrote how much easier your life will be if you use plastic or wire flooring around the drinkers for your ducks and geese. I am sure many of you said "That's great, but where do I find this poultry flooring?" Well, in this blog I have listed a selection of manufacturers.
Unfortunately some of these may have minimums above your needs. But you never know until you ask! If you are a manufacturer that is not listed, notify me and I will add your information.
Plastic Flooring
These normally come in pieces that are about 2'x4' or 3'x3'. Some interlock and some do not. Some are impregnated with an antimicrobial agent, most are not. Some are manufactured internationally but have North American distributors. Some are white and some are colored. Ask if their flooring is appropriate for the age and type of your poultry.
Gillis Agricultural Systems Willmar, MN 800-992-8986 sales@gillisag.com
Double L Systems Dyersville, IA 800-553-4102 info@doublel.com
CanArm Brockville, ON, Canada 613-342-5424 agsales@canarm.ca
Ogdensburg, NY, USA 800-267-4427
This is the flooring we use in one of our brooder buildings. It is
excellent for ducklings but does not work with goslings as they
catch their hock in the holes.
Southwest Agri Products Dallas, TX 800-288-9748 info@swapinc.com
Farmer Boy Ag Myerstown, PA 800-845-3374 inquiries@farmerboyag.com
Valco New Holland, PA 717-354-4586
Alibaba.com A listing of several Chinese manufacturers
Vencomatic Calgary, Alberta, Canada 403-241-7692 info@vencomatic.ca
FarmTek Dyersville, IA 800-245-9881
Agri of Virginia Broadway, VA 800-328-6378 agriavint@aol.com
PVC Coated Welded Wire
You can use welded wire that is not covered in plastic, but it will not last as long and may be more abrasive on their feet without the cushioning of the plastic. There are two ways to galvanize welded wire: before welding (GBW) and after welding (GAW). Before welding looks better but after welding lasts longer. Ask which you are getting. The lower the gauge number, the thicker the wire (14 gauge is thicker than 16 gauge).
Wire Cloth Man Mine Hill, NJ 800-947-3626 njsales@wireclothman.com
Houston, TX 800-947-3256 txsales@wireclothman.com
St. Petersburg, FL 888-947-3256 flsales@wireclothman.com Tulsa, OK 877-947-3626 oksales@wireclothman.com
CE Shephard Houston, TX 800-324-6733
Riverdale Mills Northbridge, MA 800-762-6374 info@riverdale.com
Louis E Page, Inc. Littleton, MA 800-225-0508 page_wire@comcast.net
Valentine, Inc. Lemont, IL 800-438-7883 shop@havestuff.com
Wingzcatalog.com
Gerard Daniel Hanover, PA 800-232-3332 sales@gerarddaniel.com
Fontana, CA 800-635-8296 sales@gerarddaniel.com
Academy Welded Wire Fence Orange, NJ 800-427-0854
info@weldedwirefence.com
Good luck with your flooring changes. Using wire or plastic flooring in your duck and goose pens around their drinkers will keep the pen much drier and cleaner. Send us pictures of how you keep your pens dry!
Home Depot sells black rubber runners in the carpet section. These are 9 feet long and about 30 inches wide, and cost around 10 dollars each. They are textured with long grooves. Easy to clean with a scrub broom and rinse with a hose. I use them over concrete flooring. Horse stall mats are great too, because they also provide insulation.
ReplyDeleteFarm Tech also sells these (and other) products that I have found are helpfull.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I have added FarmTek as a supplier of plastic poultry flooring.
ReplyDeleteJohn
I know this is completely off topic but I can't find another related post so here goes...
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I purchased a Pekin duck in early spring and then purchased 3 more adults 2 months later. Much to our delight, we now have 2 males and 2 females, both of which are laying every day. We had planned on eating the eggs but my husband doesn't particularly care for them so we decided to incubate them instead. After some careful research, we built an incubator of our own. At first the embryos either died early or were unfertilized but for the last 2 weeks every single egg we've collected is thriving!! When we candle them the embryos show a lot of movement. What I find the most interesting is that most of our eggs develop visible veins by the third day and by the fifth day I can clearly see a heartbeat. By day 9 I can see LOTS of movement. Is this normal? According to everything I've read this seems to be awfully fast, especially for duck eggs. There's no possibility that these eggs could be older than they are because we confine our ducks at night due to predators and our females always lay in the same spot, so once we have both eggs in hand we know we've gotten them all. It just seems unusual to me that our eggs seem to be developing this quickly. So far it's been a wonderful experience and I look forward to seeing our new babies hatch!! Your site is excellent and has been extremely helpful to us. Keep up the good work and thank you for all that you do!!!
I am glad you are enjoying your ducks! My guess is you are doing a better job of candling the eggs and can therefore see development more easily. They are not developing any quicker than my Pekin or anyone else's. The only exception might be if the temperature in your incubator is too high and this would speed up development - but this might only speed it up 4-5% at the most and then they will not hatch as well in the end.
ReplyDeleteJohn Metzer
We use a small, very bright LED flashlight to candle with so I'd say you're right. Our incubator temperature stays between 98.8-100 degrees, although it leans closer to 99 as long as we are vigilant about the humidity. We plan on purchasing a commercial incubator soon. Thanks for your answer John!!
ReplyDeleteAs always, an excellent article, thanks!
ReplyDeleteAnother excellent source is Belleville Wire Cloth - they are located in New Jersey and have been around since the early 1900's.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bwire.com/
We encourage anyone with waterfowl, whether they have 3 or 3000, to use plastic or wire flooring around their waterers. It really cuts down on mess as the ducks cannot play in the spilled water and make a mud pit.
ReplyDeleteWe have a fairly small flock, only 15, and we like to keep things as simple as we can. I picked up a washing machine safe pan, about 40 in. X 40 in. and we place the water bowl in this pan. We take this pan out every day and wash it along with the other dishes, easy stuff!
ReplyDeleteOff topic; Are there any reasons for or against heating the Duck House in winter?
I would only heat it in very, very cold weather. Ducks are designed to withstand cold - note how easily they swim in very cold water with no adverse consequences. If they have a shelter with plenty of insulating bedding, I would not worry about heating it.
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