Duck impacted? Winter molting! Please help!

[Miss Lydia]

I buy Sams dog kibble salmon/ pea with out grains. I think any good quality dog kibble would be okay as long as it has good quality ingredients in it. My ducks and chickens love the dog kibble small size.

How are your ducks managing in all the cold and snow?

Some use cat kibble, since I have dogs this is what mine get.

 

[3bird]

I buy Sams dog kibble salmon/ pea with out grains. I think any good quality dog kibble would be okay as long as it has good quality ingredients in it. My ducks and chickens love the dog kibble small size.

How are your ducks managing in all the cold and snow?

Some use cat kibble, since I have dogs this is what mine get.

We have cats, but our dominant cat dislikes the ducks with a passion, so I bet she won't share. ;-)

Our guys are doing okay we think. It's been so cold and well below zero F even in the duckhouse at night. We watch them carefully and try to keep it new and exciting and interesting for them. The snow is not affecting them too much, as they have not been out of their run for a while, but the cold combined with wind is the real worry. How are your guys?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Most are staying inside they come out to eat and drink but just a few Muscovy's the geese and about 8 of my oldest chickens who are all huddled under the wood shed in their dust bath area are outside. I have to go clean so I will see what the temps are inside their house At least in there they are out of the wind. we were at 2 this morning warming right up at 11.

I think as long as they have a way to get out of the wind and yours are getting some sunshine inside their house they will be okay. Martha hasn't been shaking like she is cold? None of mine are shivering they just don't walk around much they prefer to lay on their legs and feet. I don't blame them.

 

[3bird]

Most are staying inside they come out to eat and drink but just a few Muscovy's the geese and about 8 of my oldest chickens who are all huddled under the wood shed in their dust bath area are outside. I have to go clean so I will see what the temps are inside their house At least in there they are out of the wind. we were at 2 this morning warming right up at 11.

I think as long as they have a way to get out of the wind and yours are getting some sunshine inside their house they will be okay. Martha hasn't been shaking like she is cold? None of mine are shivering they just don't walk around much they prefer to lay on their legs and feet. I don't blame them.

Several of them shiver a bit when they first go out in the morning, but they seem to thermo-regulate pretty quickly. I don't see them shivering inside at all. We're supposed to hit 11 today as well! It will be the first time in the double digits in well over a week. PARTY!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes party time. Bring out the sunglasses

We're at 14 almost time to do outside chores.

 

[Raenh]

Since my dog and cats all only like salmon food thats what my two go for...fancy likes cat's and speedy the dog's.
Since its been so cold, my stock tank has just been used as decoration and I've been giving them warm bathes in bathtub again, only now i have to do them seperately cause they don't fit in it together anymore!

 

[Miss Lydia]

LOL

 

[bsides2007]

Oh yes anything out of norm sets mine off to hats clothes shoes. They really are creatures of habit.

We're @2* this morning most of mine decided not to bother coming out when I opened the coops pop door. I don't blame them.

Oh and yes mine hate for me to have to catch them I just finished up clipping the wings on my Muscovy females and boy was that fun[NOT] I put out multiple feeders but I have 42 birds.

Keep me updated and hopefully once this awful frigid weather begins to become more normal our birds will be back to normal too eating drinking and running around.

Well, they seem to be excited and happy today, and eating/drinking a good amount. I caved last night and put a small amount of water and feed in their coop with them because mine also didn't seem to leave the coop all day and so they barely ate anything. I am still kind of worried about impaction because I keep seeing these little squirts of really dark poo here and there but still can't figure out who it's coming from. I am afraid I don't know if I'd be able to tell the difference between a full crop or impaction? I have been putting yogurt, ACV, and probiotics (on rotation) in their feed and water. None of them are acting totally listless or anything, just sometimes cold. Thanks again for your responses!

 

[bsides2007]

Good luck! We have seven silver Appleyard ducks, and it's been quite chilly here (we have not seen double digits F in well over a week, and nights are falling to -10 F and colder). Our ducks have been eating less of their regular food ever since this cold snap started. We started offering some cracked corn, which they plow through, and we also feed them a soup twice a day (warm water with a mix of peas, carrots, raisins, green beans, oats, etc.). It took a while to get them into the soup, but now most of them eat it with gusto. They remain absolute fiends for meal worms, which they get as a garnish in their soup and then at the end of morning chores and about 20 minutes before we lock them in for the night. We have a similar water set-up as Miss Lydia (actually I think we copied her design pretty much exactly ;-)), and they do all get pretty wet first thing in the morning when we let them out of the duckhouse. We're a little worried about one of our ducks who gets really wet, but we're just watching closely.

...speaking of watching, we have wi-fi cameras in our run and duckhose, and those have given us a great deal of comfort during these cold temps. We also have a wireless thermometer in the duckhouse that shows us temp and humidity. We're probably a little over the top in terms of being protective duck parents, but it sure does make us sleep better when we can check on them whenever we want. ;-)

Keep us posted!

Thanks for your reply 3bird! I have been offering different things mixed in with their feed like oats and peas and such, but I made the "soup" this morning and it was a hit! Thank you for the tip I did have a thermometer in my coop is well, but just this morning I can't seem to find it (I think it fell off the wall and is now buried in straw and poop...it's a small one) so I'll have to get another. I'll have to look into the wifi cameras!

 

[Angela Thomson]

My ducks are eating normal. I have given both chickens and ducks more meal worms than ever since it got real cold. I was letting the ducks bathe until yesterday. I am only going to let them clean up once a week until it warms up. It wasn't them that cared, but I couldn't stand seeing the icicles on their wings! I was filling the little black rubber tub every day when I watered and all four would take turns splashing about...crazy ducks.