Frozen duck bedding

[chickenfancier2]

Hey Everyone,
I live in New Brunswick Canada and I have 3 Khaki Campbell ducks, I am having trouble keeping their bedding from freezing now that its winter time. What does everyone do to keep their ducks dry and the bedding from freezing ? I have a heat lamp in there for the cold nights and i change the beeding every other day but when they dabble the bedding gets soaked and freezes at night and I cant imagine them being very comfortable that way especially when they are wet. Thank in advace for the advice.

 

[jofanx]

I would move the water source out of the sleeping area and get/use a waterer that doesn't allow them to splash/dabble. Usually lidded buckets/barrels with a hole just enough for their head to fit through helps a lot.

 

[cayugaducklady]

My setup is different than yours. I have two structures filled with a deep layer straw for shelter/ nesting and I have a deep layer of straw in my enclosed duck pen. The water source is outside in the pen. I don't have a heat lamp.

I find i can still TURN their straw over as needed as long as it is at least 20 when i try to do it. The top portion is frozen but underneath is warm.

This morning is was zero degrees before the windchill when i went out to get eggs/feed/water/treat/BS with my ducks and I couldn't turn it over. I'll try tonight when i get home.

My girls don't seem to mind that the ground is cold/wet/snowy. They just sit their little fluffy rear ends down and start gossiping with each other.

They bathed this morning once it got above zero.

I'm still new to ducks but I watch their behavior and let them tell me when they aren't happy with a situation. This is where knowing your birds and their flock behavior will help you understand what they are trying to tell you.

 

[chickenfancier2]

They are still laying very well everyday, and they havet cahned their habbits at all ive know them extremely well. I was just wondering if there was a different way i coulld do things so that it wasnt getting as frozen as it has been the past couple weeks. I will have to try some straw bedding and see if that helps me out some I usuallly bed with shavings and a layer of hay that is left on the bottle of my goat feeder that is clean but the goats waist. This seems to freeze really fast and I dont want them getting uncomfortable as the winter and it gets colder out.

thanks for the advice, I have had ducks for almost a year now ( first winter) with ducks but ive had chickens and been breeding them for almost 10 years now. I will have to get a bale of straw and change my set up around abit this weekend and see how that works out for me, thanks alot again for the advice.

 

[MaureenD]

Hi There!
I have been super busy at work and with holidays I have not been on the forum much. Our temps here in south central WI are going to be dropping to "normal" in the next week... I mean below 15. ; ) We got our first snow since beginning of Nov last week, just 6". WARM winter to be new to having ducks.

I have followed the recommendation of many on this forum and have purchased bales of straw to lay on the ground and in their coop. I did not like it in the coop (night bedding) as it was a pain to clean out the poop in the a.m., so I have stuck with pine shavings- just clean out wet poop in the morning, and before I put them up for the night (about 7pm), I add a fresh layer about 3-4" thick. I try to stir the bedding each morning after the scooping so it can get some fresh air through it.

The straw around the rest of their space is a thick layer on top of a bed of landscaping river rock. Their pen is under our screen porch right up to the house. It has been very good. I rake up wet messy stuff around water and food areas when I can move it to the garden (as mulch). When I can't, I gently rake up the dry straw, spread it over wet straw and if necessary, lay some more down. I think I have 165 sq ft, and I have opened bale # 3 (it seems to go a long ways). I have 4 ducks- all hens, 2 chocolate runners, 2 welsh harlequins, and lately getting 3 eggs each day- one runner began a molt (she's small).

All seem happy and look healthy.

 

[cayugaducklady]

Straw bales also work great as wind breaks and insulation I have some along the "windy" side of my pen and along the wide edge of my stock pond. Luckily, the hens are in a natural depression and they're sheltered from the wind as long as we aren't getting blizzard or crazy hurricane/storm conditions.