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!

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

You don't have to. If you feed em at night and then in the morning, all will be fine.
Are they mallards? They are very pretty

 

[chickens really]

My Ducks live in a Dog house that I close them into every night to keep them safe.....They do not need food and water at night....

Have no worries.....

Cheers!

 

[someguyhere]

beautiful quakers mine are only 12 weeks old ish and I have already taken food and water from them at night for the same reason. mine live in a homemade enclosure somewhat like a dog house that has enough but not a lot of room. if I gave them the run of the house they would still sleep on top of each other lol. room to stretch and be comfy and that's about it and during the day they have the run of the entire place to free range. but anyways the duck house was a daily nightmare every morning until I took it all way. now its gravy I hardly touch it. I feed them once in the morning just whenever the sun comes up and once around 430 or 5 in the evening. its already been getting down into the 20s here at night so I toss a little cracked corn in their evening feeding. I've been breaking Ice every morning. I dont know why I just don't dump it but I feel like I am wasting water if I don't keep it lol.

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

And watching ducks play with ice chunks is fun too

 

[Jacob Duckman]

They can overnight without drinking and eating, but who would want to? Most people will put some water and food in the coop. I personally have a mini-pond duck pond in my run (35 gallon from home depot) with a large pond filter connected. I clean the filter out once a month and replace the water every 3 months. not too much work.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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.

 

[Thompsonv]

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

 

[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

 

[Miss Lydia]

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 Welcome to BYC!