I'm glad it bumped the thread though, even though the information is old.
We've got 4 Pekin ducks (2 male, 2 female) and they're stashed in the chicken coop with the banty's. They get free range of the 3 acres here in WI with the bantams, and 6 geese. Any information for cold weather care of ducks, geese and chickens has been helpful, since this is our first winter with them.
We've got two kiddie pools for swimming; one larger near the house and one in easy reach of the water spigot. For those days when all the water is iced-over, I kick the pool to break the ice, dump it out and refill it when the temp gets over 27 degrees Fahrenheit. That temp, with the sun means it usually will stay ice free long enough for everyone to bathe. I've seen them bathe in water with ice in it. It does not seem to bother them. I make sure to keep both pools with free water, even if there is ice in there. I do worry a bit if the ice will cut them, but so far it hasn't.
We have a heated large dog watering dish in the coop that allows for dunking of heads, plus a heated flat-back one in the garage inside the goose pen. Both the garage door and the coop door stay open all day so that each animal can get out of the cold, eat or drink when they please. For food, they get All Flock with a mixture of layer feed. Both females are laying and I noticed some wonky eggs week before last - no shell, just membrane - and decided to add the layer feed in to give them extra calcium.
So far, the ducks have been doing well with the cold weather. They prefer to nap in the patch of lilac bushes on the south side of the house. It gives them protection from threats above and good sun exposure. When it is time for them to go in at night, we go in and turn on the light to the coop. They walk in by themselves and have no issues with the chickens. The chickens are usually roosting above them, so they get the straw floor to themselves.
We modified a bank of school lockers to turn them into nesting boxes: Divided the bank of 3 into 12 nesting areas by adding shelving and roosts. The lockers did not have doors to them, so that was easy. One female lays in the middle bottom box. The other female lays right next to the feed tray. She likes to bury hers a bit more than the other one does.
Now why am I putting all of this here? There's someone out there, like me, who is raising ducks for the first time. I find the forums on BYC to be my single-most go-to for information and new ideas. It doesn't matter if it's 2 years old or 20. Ducks are ducks.
We've got 4 Pekin ducks (2 male, 2 female) and they're stashed in the chicken coop with the banty's. They get free range of the 3 acres here in WI with the bantams, and 6 geese. Any information for cold weather care of ducks, geese and chickens has been helpful, since this is our first winter with them.
We've got two kiddie pools for swimming; one larger near the house and one in easy reach of the water spigot. For those days when all the water is iced-over, I kick the pool to break the ice, dump it out and refill it when the temp gets over 27 degrees Fahrenheit. That temp, with the sun means it usually will stay ice free long enough for everyone to bathe. I've seen them bathe in water with ice in it. It does not seem to bother them. I make sure to keep both pools with free water, even if there is ice in there. I do worry a bit if the ice will cut them, but so far it hasn't.
We have a heated large dog watering dish in the coop that allows for dunking of heads, plus a heated flat-back one in the garage inside the goose pen. Both the garage door and the coop door stay open all day so that each animal can get out of the cold, eat or drink when they please. For food, they get All Flock with a mixture of layer feed. Both females are laying and I noticed some wonky eggs week before last - no shell, just membrane - and decided to add the layer feed in to give them extra calcium.
So far, the ducks have been doing well with the cold weather. They prefer to nap in the patch of lilac bushes on the south side of the house. It gives them protection from threats above and good sun exposure. When it is time for them to go in at night, we go in and turn on the light to the coop. They walk in by themselves and have no issues with the chickens. The chickens are usually roosting above them, so they get the straw floor to themselves.
We modified a bank of school lockers to turn them into nesting boxes: Divided the bank of 3 into 12 nesting areas by adding shelving and roosts. The lockers did not have doors to them, so that was easy. One female lays in the middle bottom box. The other female lays right next to the feed tray. She likes to bury hers a bit more than the other one does.
Now why am I putting all of this here? There's someone out there, like me, who is raising ducks for the first time. I find the forums on BYC to be my single-most go-to for information and new ideas. It doesn't matter if it's 2 years old or 20. Ducks are ducks.
