Frozen Duck.

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Wildsky

Wildsky

Wild Egg!
12 Years
Oct 13, 2007
11,967
56
336
California
I hope I did the right thing.

I went out to feed animals and one of my Muscovy boys was looking really ratty, and lethargic. He wouldn't come out from under the deck, even for scratch. He finally got close enough that I could grab him and his feathers were all frozen crispy!!

Its -8 outside now.

I brought him in to try "dry" the ice off in the warm house, I put my jacket over him and took him into the bathroom. It didn't help after a few minutes, so I ran a cold bath for him.
After being in the water a few minutes he really livened up! After sitting doing nothing he was suddenly flapping and preening himself. I let him stay in the bath only a little while - a few minutes. TOok him out and dried him with a towel and took him straight back to the coop.
I didn't want to keep him toooo long in a warm house - I made sure to dump out the water in their little bath tub outside, so nobody else could get wet and freeze.

Did I do the right thing? He seemed MUCH happier and more enthusiastic after his bath.

I don't know why his feathers froze like that, I know he probably took a bath, I didn't think the water would stay in his feathers long enough to freeze.
 
Geeze all my guys were looking pretty fed up with the weather tonight too, not even wanting to eat, and one poor goose's foot was bleeding from something.

So I dragged the baby pools over to the spicket and filled them all up (the hose is hopelessly out of commission) and holy cow they were all so happy!

Then I got another pool and dragged it into the aviary so the ducks could have some fun, and they were so appreciative! They splashed around for like 30 minutes and then started to eat. I think that the water probably felt warm to them compared to the air.

I also gave everyone fresh straw for bedding - it is just too cold out ....

Your guys was probably so thankful! My gooses all had bits of ice on them after taking their baths, but I figure it is what's under the top layer of feathers that counts most.
 
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My ducks have been "swimming" in the snow. I refuse to fill up waterers in negative temps for them.

I hope your duck is ok Wildsky. It's been really cold here and I know it's been even colder where you are.
 
I think, like DuckyBoys said, that it makes them warmer. My ducks are on the pond, and on the coldest mornings they'll be in the water. They are also in there when most of the pond is frozen, swimming around to keep it from freezing.
 
I do think they need it, just something went wrong this time. And we don't have a huge pond for them, I fill up a tub and they hop in.

They also take a dip in the horse waterer now and then, its bigger and has a deicer... I often see them RUNNING (if you can call it that) flappin and going nuts after taking a dip in there.

I don' tknow if the really really freezing weather, froze the water too fast for him to "dry" off, or perhaps hes not producing enough oils to keep that water running off.
 
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Our farrier was here to check on the horse this evening, and he said as a kid they would have to chip the ducks out the ice and bring em in to thaw out - he said they were always fine, and happy sitting frozen into the ice.
 
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Being a muscovy, that's probably part of his problem. I've heard their oil glands are not as developed as other types of ducks. But I have also heard of water freezing on other mallard-based breeds when it is really cold, so maybe it was just too cold.
 
He wasn't frozen this morning
big_smile.png
He was up and about and doing just fine.
wee.gif
 
Wildsky, you did the right thing. I had found 2 white ducks out on a highway during a blizzard. This was years ago. One of them...its feet had frozen to the ground the other was almost there. We worked with the one until we could get his feet loose from the ground and I took them out to Granny's house. We did the same thing you did..bath tub and all. We fixed them a warm place out in one of the buildings. They ended up to be fine. And lived happily in our farm pond. Great Job!! DeeJay
 

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