Dealing with extreme outdoor temps...how do you do it?

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gal5150

gal5150

Songster
Mar 30, 2016
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California
I live in Central Calif, it gets extremely hot here and currently we're up to 97.....starting Sunday on 104, 108, etc.

How do your ducks do in extreme heat? The girls are in an outdoor pen 11'x11', shade cloth on the to and areas where I use a thin sheet moved throughout the day to provide full shaded areas. They've got a kiddie pool and two large watering stations. My 8.5 wk WH is faring ok, my 8.5 wk Cayuga is feeling it. Some panting yesterday and today while not panting she is slightly adjusting wings to not be pressed on her sides.

Put a large block of ice in one watering station and they wouldn't go near it......something new=avoid like the plague....until the ice melted and I put my hands in it. Then they drank. Any suggestions bc at this point I'm considering just bringing them in the house during heat of the day.....
 
I would keep putting ice out, they will figure it out. We had awful heat one year and i put ice in wading pools. Even the turkeys took a turn. Bringing them in is an option since you only have two. I had twenty geese, three turkeys and thirty ducks at that time. Keep an eye on them and hope the weather cools.
 
I change out swim pan water around 2 p.m. on days that are 90F or more, and above 95F, I bring them into the night pen mid-afternoon for a cool down. This is not an option for many people, I understand.

Our night pen is actually part of the walkout basement. It does not get much over 70 or 75F in there, and I consider extreme heat the same way I would consider an intense thunderstorm or a blizzard. I get the ducks in where it's safe for them.

And I hang out there with them, often!!! We don't have AC in the house. So I find something to do in the basement.
 
I've been using cooked, cold potatoes and cooked, cold carrots. Our ancient old fridge keeps stuff just above frozen so they get really cold.

We haven't had many crazy hot days so far but on the hottest days I spray down the bedding so they can get some evaporative cooling going on.

It helps that our pen is only in direct sunlight for 2-3 hours in the summer due to the heavy tree canopy that rings it.
 
We had a 117 day and all the ducks appeared to fair well through the day. The day after my Welsh was not doing well but has since bounced back.

Their pen is under a shade tree with a shade cloth and misters. A soak their sand in their pen daily so it is cool. They have wading buckets that are shallow and a pool. I also put out frozen gallon jugs and add electrolytes to water on hot days.

They now handle the 100 - 105 degree heat easily.
 
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So far they seem to have adapted rather quickly and got very cranky about being brought in so they've been out in up to 106 and seem to be handling it well. Frequent water changes, ice, rotating shade cloths....a lot of work for me but they seem happy enough!
 
It regularly gets over 100 here and the wild ducks seem to do ok in the shade with access to water. Our two mallards have been ok so far as long as their pool is filled. We leave the garage door open, where their night pen is, and they usually choose to stay outside. I don't know if it's different for domestic ducks.

My ducks have it better than I do. I have to work out in that yuck.
 

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