Duckcicles!

[mandelyn]

Last night we had freezing rain, a nice little sheet of ice on everything. I woke up this morning, looked out the window and saw how pretty it was, and then had a flash of horror as I wondered if those idiot ducks had slept out in it. I had this mental picture of their noses iced over and them frozen into place or something.

So I rushed and put 3 layers of clothes on and shot outside to see. Their run is secure, so I don't lock them up, they can choose indoor or out. I didn't even think of the freezing rain and their habit of facing winter head on and being outside in it.

Their noses weren't iced over, but the rest of them was! The top of their heads, their backs and shoulders, tails free of it since they wiggle them so much. I have duckcicles, just as I feared!

It falls off easy, they'll be ice free in no time. They didn't seem bothered by it one bit. Quackers put her egg in the house, so they must have been indoors at some point. Usually she lays it in the run. I have the run lined thickly in pine needles, they can bed down pretty deep in it.

I put fresh pine needles down so that they're not on the ice. It'll melt tomorrow and the next day, it's headed back up the the 50's.

I know they're not stupid, but must they worry me this much? I guess I need to start going out every evening and locking them up, just for my own sanity.

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

Last year's ice storms did the same to my free-range peafowl. The ice was between a quarter and a half inch thick. They could have gone inside, but they were already roosting when the storm struck. They literally dropped from the trees the next morning. It was pretty easy to catch them and thaw them out with a hair dryer. (there's a redneck joke, for ya!)

They were unharmed, but they worried me sick!

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

That is among the funniest things I've heard: Ducks with Ice Armour! Glad that they're alright!

 

[Sweetfolly]

It's been bitterly cold here in WI the past few days. Like -13 degrees overnight, and a high temperature of 2 degrees during the day. We fill the Call ducks "ponds" (2 gallon rubber pans) twice a day so that they can have a quick swim and keep their feathers in tip-top shape. Twice now, I've had them hang around in the pond so long that their breast feathers have frozen into the ice and we've had to go out with buckets of hot water to unfreeze them! A lot of the time, we have to pull poopcicles off their bums in the morning - poo that they passed while they were sleeping and it froze into place on them right where it landed! And they always seem to have little icicles clinging to their sides and their wings. They don't bother them at all, and since I've always wintered my Calls outside and I've selectively bred for hardiness, they don't seem to mind the cold temperatures either! I sure will be happy when it warms up next week though!

 

[MissusDee]

Most of my ducks had never seen snow until today, and my oldest one, went right out and called the others out. Hesitation, then confusion, followed by the gradual getting used to the idea ensued. One kept going back into the pen to curl up in the straw.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Last year's ice storms did the same to my free-range peafowl. The ice was between a quarter and a half inch thick. They could have gone inside, but they were already roosting when the storm struck. They literally dropped from the trees the next morning. It was pretty easy to catch them and thaw them out with a hair dryer. (there's a redneck joke, for ya!)

They were unharmed, but they worried me sick!

That had to take sometime to thaw out peafowl with a hair dryer.

 

[EmAbTo48]

Northern WI here I feel terrible for my ducks! They look like little icles and they just look cold I can't wait for this negative weather to move along and it warm back up to the teens at least, they can handle that but not negatives!

 

[nickie]

Lol, I'm an hour south east of Cincinnati and I commute there for work... Funny, I was wondering if my ducks would be iced this morning since they power through winter with optional housing (no run at all, they are free free free). The past few ice storms we have had have also included snow so I've never thought about it. No ice on these girls, their daily party had already started before sunrise today.

On another note, I didn't know you could keep ducks in the city limits.

 

[mandelyn]

Yes you can, so long as they aren't complained about and you pick the poop up into sealed containers. No roosters, no specific quantity. Some of the villages around the city say no poultry, others have a 6 hens or less rule. Some places have an acreage requirement, others so 100 ft from the property line. If I wanted a cow, I would have it have it 100 ft from the property line. Springfield Township allows roosters. My dad's neighbors have like 3 roosters, on a TINY residential lot. Must be some very patient neighbors. Specially with the sometimes free range pea fowl... they on occasion sit on my dad's roof, or the other neighbor's. Peafowl... on the neighbors ROOF, in the CITY. LOL They make me look like a poultry keeping angel. I keep my numbers small and don't let them wonder. I'd have pied peafowl or white if I could... but I don't think it's fair to my neighbors, as patient as they are with me. haha

The village that starts 4 houses up from me has more indepth rules.... no roosters, no complaints, no egg sales, no smell, ect. It's a posh area, though it has it's fair share of poultry keepers. I was surprised at how many people have chickens in the city and surrounding areas.

 

[nickie]

Fascinating! I grew up in Cincinnati and it never occurred to me that such an uptight city would allow poultry keeping in its limits. Learn something new every day.

Lol, I can see it now, cows in Anderson, that makes me giggle. Can you imagine driving up Beechmont Ave and sitting through all those lights behind a tractors with a hay spear? I know I'm taking it way too far, but that just tickled me pink.