Are ducks okay without overnight water?!

[AzDuck]

I have five ducks that I keep in an inclosed coop at night. It is deeply bedded with straw, pine shavings, and pine pellets. Having water in their coop has been a huge mess, but I took their water away about two weeks ago (once it really started to freeze at night). They are in their coop from around 5:45 when it gets dark, until 7am when it gets light. I’m worried that it is too long without water for them, but I’m not sure how to keep it clean if I add water back to the coop because they turn it into a slushy mess.

They seem to be acting fine since I took their water away, and they always drink first thing when they come out in the morning, but I’ve noticed their poops in the coop have a lot of white in them. Not sure if that is normal or a sign of dehydration

Thanks as always BYC

 

[SulkyBantam]

If it is gone when they are asleep, no prob dont worry about it.

 

[DrHawkeye07]

They will be fine without water for that long.
Excess moisture in the coop from water being available at night would probably end up causing more health problems in the long run.

 

[Fuchsia]

I take my ducks water away at night. They make a huge mess and it makes their bedding all wet.

 

[sourland]

They'll be better off in a dry coop.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

They'll be fine. They sleep through the night and don't get up to drink until they actually get up for the day

 

[threebrookscorner]

Taking food and water out of the duck house was one of the best things ive done. On rainy and snowy days i set the food bowl just inside the door until bedtime.

 

[KaleIAm]

I put my ducks to bed from 530pm - 730am. They don't have food or water during that time. When I let them out in the morning they wander about their aviary looking for any worms that have come up in the night before casually making their way over to their water buckets I'm filling. If they were desperate for water I feel like they would be jumping in their pool immediately.

I consulted my avian veterinarian about water at night and she told me my ducks don't need it as long as they have access to water all day. She did point out that dry bedding is very important.

This works for me and my ducks.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

My ducks always had water and food available over night, i had divided the duck-house into two bedrooms and one living/dining-room and i have observed them drinking and eating during the night. Usually the Living/Dining-room was a mess in the morning, but the bedrooms were fine.
Now i have added a small, secure run to the duck-house and keep the water and food there, now the duck-house is even better.
I can frequently see ducks walking outside the house, grabbing a bite and drinking, then walking back into the house to continue to sleep.
Whenever they had no water over night, like when the waterer froze to a solid block of ice, they were really p!ssed in the morning and ran straight to the outside waterer to drink, then came to the patio and pooped everywhere.
Luckily i have installed a self cleaning, semi automatic waterer in the duck-run now, so no more angry ducks in the morning

 

[lomine]

As long as they don't have food either, no water overnight is fine.