Shivering Ducks in the morning cold

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montana ducks

montana ducks

In the Brooder
6 Years
Jun 24, 2013
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24
It was in the single digits this morning. I let the ducks out of their current coop (a large, converted doghouse) and walked them to their run as I do every morning. They did the same thing they did last night. Walk a few steps and then lay down. I noticed they were trembling.

I got them in their run and now they're just chilling in their pond under the heat lamp I have.

I'm really worried but everything I've read online says that they will be fine in cold temperatures as long as they have a dry place out of the wind which their house certainly is all of those things.

It's going to drop below zero tonight and I just want to make sure they are going to be ok. How worried should I be? How should I interpret their behavior. It'd break my heart to know they are cold.
 
I would stick some square bales of hay around the coop and let them get in the water at all times it helps them not get frostbite
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Montana, I am sorry but I don't recall your ducks' breeds.

This will be my 2nd winter with ducks. All I do is dray houses with deep straw for my ducks to burrow into. If we get a blizzard, or high winds, I do lock them up into the barn. But that is also unheated. When the ducks huddle together, their bodies give off BTUs (heat) and together as a group they will be warmer than a singleton would be. Does that make sense? HTH :)
 
If the ducks are shivering and sitting on their feet, they are cold, When mine did that, I moved them into an area that stayed above 35F. And their health improved.

Individual ducks do not always fall into the "ducks do this or that" category. For me, there is a difference between surviving and thriving, and I want mine to thrive. So, because we have a few runners that are not very cold hardy (below say 35F), everybody stays above that temperature at night, and I watch them during the day. If we have scrunched necks, lethargy, fluffed feathers, shivering, the ducks go into the warmer shelter.
 
Last edited:
Amiga said:
If the ducks are shivering and sitting on their feet, they are cold, When mine did that, I moved them into an area that stayed above 35F. And their health improved.

Individual ducks do not always fall into the "ducks do this or that" category. For me, there is a difference between surviving and thriving, and I want mine to thrive. So, because we have a few runners that are not very cold hardy (below say 35F), everybody stays above that temperature at night, and I watch them during the day. If we have scrunched necks, lethargy, fluffed feathers, shivering, the ducks go into the warmer shelter.
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Ditto Amiga. I've read and tried all of the cold weather ideas and have found that my ducks and geese respond better and eat less feed if their night time area is kept at a range of temps much more suited to them. I live in Maine and we can get to 30 below daytime highs and have kept my birds confined when it is around zero and used a heat lamp for them in their housing. I use about the same amount of grain in the Winter as I do in the Summer. With the cost of grain now a days, the use of a heat lamp is cheap compared to the added cost of extra grain. Just my 2 cents.
 
What breed of duck? some aren't cold hardy, also you don't mention how many. I get cold here but i don't heat the birds, i do find my scovies do better with larger amounts in the barn vs not, hence part of the reason i kept on extra drakes, to amp up the BTU"s as mentioned by HDF lol

My calls mind you are quite hardy, they live in a way to big coop.. (um, need to dial down the building size sometimes ) and they have been just fine. Does this dog house have any venting? i am wondering if your having a humidity problem? that can chill birds and lead to frostbite.
 

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