Duck pool in winter?

[DuckMom2017]

You definitely need water for ducks in winter.
What I do is fill them in the afternoon, and in the morning after theyve frozen overnight is kick a hole in the ice for them to drink out of. Then in the afternoon they get swim time to bath and stuff (generally in the afternoon here is over freezing point) and repeat

If it snows more than an inch, I plow a space for them to walk in. And lots of shavings in the house

Of course they'll have drinking water. I've recently started giving them separate buckets of just drinking water, because they would swim in everything else and get it nasty. I just didn't know if they would catch a little ducky cold if they swam when it was near freezing.
Is there any point where you said "it's too cold" and bring them inside?

 

[chickens really]

Lol.....I use rubber stock bowls all year...Easy to jump on an knock ice out of....They bath up in them...Ducks need water to drink and help swallow feed....They don't need baths all the time..

 

[BYCforlife]

Sorry, I just realized this thread is mine. Oops.

 

[iluvsedward]

I guess I spoiled my ducks. We have a 55 gallon black hard plastic tub submerged in the ground. I got a heater from Tractor Supply and they had a swimming hole all winter. Was not a crazy winter here in NY so I actually got to clean it out almost once a week. They loved it.

how do you clean it when it's submerged in the ground? Id imagine it'd bee too hard to dump...

so this will be my first winter with ducks and I have a water heater I used when I had a my goats but i dont think it would be good for the ducks to swim with it since they do so much pooping and I have a plastic kiddie pool, I wouldnt want them to break it, and i think its too large for their drinking pan, but maybe thats where I'll put it. another issue is getting water to the kiddie pool, we turn our hose off during the winter so should i just tough it out and make trips with a bucket? or maybe I can attach the hose to an indoor faucet.. I'd also like to hook up a heat lamp, do you think if the heat lamp was near enough to the water dish it would keep it from freezing solid? should I ditch the dish and use a chicken waterer? or will that freeze too? sorry haha im just brain storming, I have two little gray call females

 

[chickens really]

I have Calls also and they love bathing in large rubber stock dishes...Use that on warmer days and use a pail of warmer water...Or I have the kiddie pool set up by the tap on my house with a short hose that fills the pool...Then dump it out after....

 

[EngeFamilyFarms]

Would a water heater be safe for the ducks' water?

We have a heated floating rock that works wonders

 

[Miss Lydia]

Pics?

 

[furbabies86]

Hey I live in Michigan - this is my first winter with the ducks. Pekins & Cayuga. One is a bigger plastic pool i put in the ground, and the other is a small kiddie pool above ground. Both have ice in them this morning but not fully frozen over. Is it safe for them to come outside with the possibility of trying to get in the pool or should I cover the pools up?

 

[Gkundern]

I know this is an old thread but no one answered the question of what temp is too cold for swimming. I live in MN and it gets well below zero Fahrenheit here quit often. I have a 60 gallon stock tank with a deicer. Yesterday one of my drakes had an ice on his chest feathers and it got me worried.