Housing ducks for winter in ohio

[the 412 chicks]

i live in northern ohio and it can get pretty cold in the winter and i was wondering if i open my spare coop will my ducks stay in it this winter. i have 5 mallards amd 4 pekins. and will they be okay

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
They should be ok, but may not want to stay in the coop. Ducks are built for the cold and like to be outside. What are they doing now? free ranging, have an outside run or what. Are they shut in at night. You should be training them to come to the coop at night and consider shuting them in for protection from night roaming varmits.

 

[the 412 chicks]

they are free ranging with a pond

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

Quote:
yep, i'm with goosedragon (hi!!). i'm in ohio also and our ducks did great over the winter. this is what we learned (the hard way):

1. the only loss we ever had from a varmint was when our ducks didnt/WOULD NOT come in at nite and were roosting on the frozen pond. we found the sad feathers and the tell tale pawprints the next morning :-( start NOW to train them to come in at nite.

2. we ended up cooping ours in the worst weather - but make sure they have DRY bedding...which as you know can be hard to keep up with b/c the ducks are so wet and all that splashing they do.

3. we gave them more corn than normal to keep them warm. this worked really well for us - and giving them whole dry corn on the cob gave them something to do

4. when we had the -30* weather we got bales of straw and build exterior walls to insulate our coops. this works great - and then you have a bunch of mulch in the spring

5. warmish but not water at least twice a day

and dont try to 'over-help.' the farmers around here told me (strongly) to just make them deal with the cold and they will be better off than if i interfered. feed little and often and give them something to do. and remember they have little feather-down coats
;-)

good luck!

 

[briarpatchfarms]

They should be fine where they are as long as they have acess to water and maybe a place to go in and get out of the wind and snow!

 

[jazzyfizzle]

Would you also recommend the corn still on the cob for call ducks? Or would the kernels be too large?



Thank you


Jazzyfizzle

 

[Bleenie]

My Muscovies always go into the coops at night...the geese are the not-so-smart ones.