Do ducks have to have food/water at night

[Thompsonv]

Hi everyone, I am still relatively new to duck ownership. From the six i raised we chose to keep one male and one female. They are now 7months old ant they go in their house at night and I've always given them food and water at night, i'll also say they are quite spoiled. However it has started getting colder out as winter is well on it's way and they are spending a bit more time at night in their house. They are starting to make quite a mess of their water in their house as well as with their poop. I was wondering if they have to have water and food at night and specifically where it's getting colder and there will be less to forage on and they need to stay happy and not hungry. Clint and Crackers thank you in advance everyone!

 

[Thompsonv]

They have gone the past few nights without food and water in their house. They free range all day and I leave their food pellets and corn out all day with them, so they always have access except at night. They put themselves to bed pretty frequently or they sit by the porch light waiting for me to walk them to their house and I lock them inside at night. Since I took their food out they seem to be spending more time going in and out of their house during the day, resting and relaxing I presume. We built their house when they were just babies so they have been around it for some time now

 

[Thompsonv]

Thank you very much, they are Rouens so basically very big mallards technically

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

BTW... I have started weaning my ducks off food/water at night. There are still fine,they just dive in in the mornings(to the food, not the the pool ).

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

And watching ducks play with ice chunks is fun too

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

X2 Amiga
I would take away food and water only after they are done growing. Which would be when they are fully feathered, in their adult plumage (not juvenile).

 

[Moments]

Unless you have a light on in your coop at night most likely the ducks will be asleep and won't be up eating and drinking. I've had ducks since 2004 and chickens since 2009 geese since 2007 and only last year did I put water inside at night. And that was in Feb when we had such frigid temps and everyone went inside so early. You really have to think up some pretty good ideas on keeping the water contained to keep the bedding and floor from freezing.

Mine are starting to head in around 4-ish now. I was putting water in at night with mats underneath but they're making more of a mess I feel than they used to. I started putting fresh water in an hour or so after they go in and after a couple hours remove it, the mats and replace any damp or wet straw. In the morning around 6-6:30am go in and give water and a bit of food cause they can't go out right away when it gets light out cause of how cold it's been and I also feel that most often all their eggs are laid in the pen if they're let out a little later (their nighttime pen is in an insulated garage/connected to basement under our house so the temp stays decent). It's not heated in the area their pen is but stays a bit warmer than outside.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Mine are starting to head in around 4-ish now. I was putting water in at night with mats underneath but they're making more of a mess I feel than they used to. I started putting fresh water in an hour or so after they go in and after a couple hours remove it, the mats and replace any damp or wet straw. In the morning around 6-6:30am go in and give water and a bit of food cause they can't go out right away when it gets light out cause of how cold it's been and I also feel that most often all their eggs are laid in the pen if they're let out a little later (their nighttime pen is in an insulated garage/connected to basement under our house so the temp stays decent). It's not heated in the area their pen is but stays a bit warmer than outside.

Nothing I tried worked so mine are going in at around 5:15- 5:30 and I let them out around 7:05 so far everyone is doing fine not eating or drinking while inside. Starving once I let them out but that is typical they are that way year round. lol
If your set up is working stick with it.

 

[Moments]

Nothing I tried worked so mine are going in at around 5:15- 5:30 and I let them out around 7:05 so far everyone is doing fine not eating or drinking while inside. Starving once I let them out but that is typical they are that way year round. lol
If your set up is working stick with it.

It's starting to get dark here around 4-4:30 so they're definitely ready to go in and not starting to get light until 6:30ish so they're in for awhile and are happy to have water when I give it to them before I can let them out. I'm wondering if it may've contributed to the bumblefoot I'm finding lately. Although I've had water in there pretty much year round so dunno. Maybe temp change makes a difference, not quite sure. Everything else has been the same.

 

[Moments]

Hard to know for sure.

What part of the country are you in?

The cold part lol I'm in VT. Broke the ice but hadn't removed the big pieces cause they weren't showing any interest in going in, they were preferring the smaller pool but looks like someone decided to take the plunge lol