Domestic Wild Ducks At Park During Winter

[TomCahalan]

Will these other breeds be okay during the winter if they cant fly away? If all the muscovy ducks fly away, the ones that cannot will they slowly be picked off by wildlife? I live in Texas, so of course we aren't going to drop into HUGE cold fronts, but as my ducks lay in their coop tonight with their heat lamps I cant help but wonder about these other poor ducks out there. What typically happens?

Look at a range map for wild mallards. Your area is where the ducks fly TO in winter. Your concern should be that they are unable to fly away from the summer heat.

Your domestic ducks should not have heat lamps. We are talking about ducks, a subarctic species. What you think of as comfortable is hot to them, and what you think of as cold is comfortable to them.

 

[LondonKallie]

Look at a range map for wild mallards. Your area is where the ducks fly TO in winter. Your concern should be that they are unable to fly away from the summer heat.

Your domestic ducks should not have heat lamps. We are talking about ducks, a subarctic species. What you think of as comfortable is hot to them, and what you think of as cold is comfortable to them.

My comfortable is a tad different than normal people since I'm originally from up north and like the cold. My comfortable is 60-70s. My cold is 30-40s. My coop is 12x12 coop and I only put 1 heat lamp in just to keep the ducks and chickens a tad warmer during the night. Online it says 20s is cold for ducks, but since they share with chickens I use the heat lamp for all of them.

My original question was just survival rate during the winter for ducks in general if they cannot escape elements and like someone said, predators and food sources. I know Texas doesn't get cold cold, but still I feel like these ducks at these ponds could be in danger if left alone during our winters.

 

[TomCahalan]

My comfortable is a tad different than normal people since I'm originally from up north and like the cold. My comfortable is 60-70s. My cold is 30-40s. My coop is 12x12 coop and I only put 1 heat lamp in just to keep the ducks and chickens a tad warmer during the night. Online it says 20s is cold for ducks, but since they share with chickens I use the heat lamp for all of them.

My original question was just survival rate during the winter for ducks in general if they cannot escape elements and like someone said, predators and food sources. I know Texas doesn't get cold cold, but still I feel like these ducks at these ponds could be in danger if left alone during our winters.

30s-40s is cold for you, but comfortable for ducks. When it gets below 20 then they need something to protect them from the wind, and that's it. People in Minnesota, the Dakotas, Canada, etc... keep ducks without supplemental heat.

Again, your location is where ducks go in winter for warmth and food. Winter is their favorite time of year in Texas, the only time when they are comfortable. Look at a range map. Ducks in your area migrate north for summer, to get away from your heat.

If the domestic ducks at the ponds can't cope with predators and forage requirement then they need to die or be captured. Otherwise they will weaken the gene pool of the wild mallards. Survival of the fittest. Ducks that can't survive in the wild should not contribute to the wild duck gene pool.