ducks are emptying chickens water every night

[dschoey]

I'm going out of town for Thanksgiving. Usually don't need a farm-sitter and shouldn't this time either but with the cold weather our 3 pet ducks have come in off the pond and now spend every night trying to swim in the chickens heated water trough. It's been bone dry every morning and the floor of the coop is a skating rink. I'd prefer to let my chickens and ducks share the big coop-- any ideas how to keep my birds hydrated while I'm out of town? We can put the water outside when we're home but when we're gone we wanted to just lock them all up in the coop for 3 days w/o anyone coming over to chick-sit.
Thoughts? Inspiration? Easy fixes I'm just too clueless to think of?
Thanks!

 

[donrae]

It's hard to advise without having a clear picture of your set up. Any way to baffle the waterer so the chickens can stick their heads through but the ducks can't get their bodies in?

 

[dschoey]

Our water is just one of these plastic heated containers. I have a metal one too but don't see how buying a heated stand for it would fix this problem.
We fill the water every night and it's bone dry every morning... no leaks or holes. There is also a big puddle/ice skating rink on the floor of the coop. Our Caiuga ducks are doing it as we have seen them try to dip their heads under and splash around. I think they are really missing the pond-- it's frozen now and it's a 1/4 acre pond so I can't just throw in a de-icer. I have put a water bucket out in the yard and they play in that till it freezes then they're back inside the coop-- emptying it faster than I can fill it.

We had a chicken drown in the cow's trough the other day-- I assume it was desperate for water. We're new to ducks and the 3 of them share a big 8x8 coop with our chickens.
I can keep refilling the water throughout the day when I'm home, but the real problem is that I want to leave for the holiday. With the way things are going, even if I find a sitter, they'd have to come several times a day to keep refilling the hens water.

All suggestions welcome-- getting kinda desperate!

 

[dschoey]

I tried attaching a picture of our water container but must have done it wrong-- try try again!

 

[aart]

Maybe a heated dog bowl and fashion a cover that has slots just big enough for a duck head to dip their nostrils?

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/api-all45;seasons-electric-heated-pet-bowl-5-qt