Ducks First Snow and Prep Question

[New duck mommy 2021]

duck in heated bucket is precious

Apparently she wanted a hot tub session
That day she jumped in and out several times
She is a nut

 

[Ronnie_]

Zero and colder I don’t put any swimming things out
I just use my heated buckets
My ancona ( cinnamon) decided she wanted a bath one day
She jumped right in my heated bucket
These are the sleds I use when it’s around zero or slightly above
It’s only a few inches deep
They stand in there and swoop the water over them
Anything over 5C I use my kid pools and ponds

Thank you! Sorry I’m my brain I was think 0F. I need to remove their kiddie pool soon, but it has frozen over the top, so I need to wait for it to thaw to drain.

Is it particularly dangerous to have the rubber horse food bowls with water out below 30F? I typically fill them with warm water in the morning, and top it off midday. Is it just the risk of frostbite to the legs and feet? I was hoping they would be smart enough to not dunk in freezing/ icy water but .

Right now I just have universal bucket warmer disks to sit a bucket on top. I’m planning on getting a heated dog water bowl in the mail shortly too

 

[Ronnie_]

Thank you! Sorry I’m my brain I was think 0F. I need to remove their kiddie pool soon, but it has frozen over the top, so I need to wait for it to thaw to drain.

Is it particularly dangerous to have the rubber horse food bowls with water out below 30F? I typically fill them with warm water in the morning, and top it off midday. Is it just the risk of frostbite to the legs and feet? I was hoping they would be smart enough to not dunk in freezing/ icy water but .

Right now I just have universal bucket warmer disks to sit a bucket on top. I’m planning on getting a heated dog water bowl in the mail shortly too

Added photo of them exploring outside for their first snow today!

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Thank you! Sorry I’m my brain I was think 0F. I need to remove their kiddie pool soon, but it has frozen over the top, so I need to wait for it to thaw to drain.

Is it particularly dangerous to have the rubber horse food bowls with water out below 30F? I typically fill them with warm water in the morning, and top it off midday. Is it just the risk of frostbite to the legs and feet? I was hoping they would be smart enough to not dunk in freezing/ icy water but .

Right now I just have universal bucket warmer disks to sit a bucket on top. I’m planning on getting a heated dog water bowl in the mail shortly too

I wouldn’t provide any kind of swimming area at zero or below
Unfortunately ducks love water and don’t have the shut off switch when it’s to cold
Even if my ducks splash the heated water over them the feathers get ice on them
Imagine if that was cold water where they were fully in it
I keep my feed and heated buckets in an Enclosed outdoor pen
The walls are clear vinyl panels that if we get winter sun help to warm it up
The roof is white vinyl panels so they do get some shade ( mostly for hot summer )
I have 2 windows built in and one has a fan in it
Then the door is a screen door
This way there is lots of ventilation
In heat of summer I added a 90% shade garden cover and made it into curtains
This kept it from becoming a greenhouse affect
We had to build this cause last winter my ducks wouldn’t come outside over -20 ti eat or drink
Standing in snow made it worse
This way snow , rain and wind don’t get inside there
I keep straw on the floor
It’s attached to the coop so on cold days they can go into the insulated coop to get warmer
( like today )
It’s -19 with the wind chill and they refuse to come outside
Mostly staying in the coop but have come out to eat and drink at least

 

[Miss Lydia]

Zero and colder I don’t put any swimming things out
I just use my heated buckets
My ancona ( cinnamon) decided she wanted a bath one day
She jumped right in my heated bucket
These are the sleds I use when it’s around zero or slightly above
It’s only a few inches deep
They stand in there and swoop the water over them
Anything over 5C I use my kid pools and ponds

Hot tub!! My Muscovy did this before.

 

[sheenersb]

The bath Type waters are okay to use down zero? It’s 34 here now and slushy! But if it falls below zero remove them and just leave my buckets on the warmers (to drink and dunk heads in-they can’t get in those)

Can you show me your buckets? My ducks are too short for the ones I have on hand. And what bucket warmer do you have? Thank you!

 

[Ronnie_]

Can you show me your buckets? My ducks are too short for the ones I have on hand. And what bucket warmer do you have? Thank you!

Yes! I’ll grab a photo tomorrow morning.
But I have 2 food grade 5 Gallon buckets from TSC, that we used a 4” diameter hole saw to cut holes out of the side. (About 1/2 down bucket- 3 holes around bucket and I sanded the edges of the holes) so they each hold ~2.5 gallons of water. And you can snap on the lids, ducks can reach in and dunk without jumping in.

The bucket warmer I got was K&H universal de-icer I got on Chewy which is pricey 100$ but works well, and you can sit almost any bucket or waterer on top of it. Chewy also makes a heater dog water bowl I have on route to my house- that might be short enough for your gals too

 

[FNF]

We have some very cold weather coming next week getting as low as 8 deg F at night. The ducks have a big fenced area plus a secure hardware cloth run that has plastic sheeting on most panels to block wind. They have an attached house as well. The door has a window with hardware cloth on it. There are plexiglass windows with hardware cloth too but I have them closed most of the time for the cold temps. I usually have a lot of pine shavings in there but I think I’m going to clean it all out, put a thick layer of straw down, and then more shavings. I also thought I might put a Coleman cooler on its side inside the house with more bedding in case they wanted to huddle in an even smaller space inside. Has anyone tried that? I read someone put a sterilite container in his so they had the choice. I know they’re hardy animals and they’ll be out of the wind and elements but this is the coldest weather we’ve had and I want to make them as comfortable as possible.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

We have some very cold weather coming next week getting as low as 8 deg F at night. The ducks have a big fenced area plus a secure hardware cloth run that has plastic sheeting on most panels to block wind. They have an attached house as well. The door has a window with hardware cloth on it. There are plexiglass windows with hardware cloth too but I have them closed most of the time for the cold temps. I usually have a lot of pine shavings in there but I think I’m going to clean it all out, put a thick layer of straw down, and then more shavings. I also thought I might put a Coleman cooler on its side inside the house with more bedding in case they wanted to huddle in an even smaller space inside. Has anyone tried that? I read someone put a sterilite container in his so they had the choice. I know they’re hardy animals and they’ll be out of the wind and elements but this is the coldest weather we’ve had and I want to make them as comfortable as possible.

That would be around -13 C for me
My birds so just fine in that
Right now we are -52 C windchill
My coop is insulated and I’m running a small electric heater
Temps are around -10 in the coop
They aren’t huddled together
I have dig crates in mine that my girls like to lay eggs in
They can go cuddle in there if they need to
I keep my layer of pine shavings on the bottom and my hay on top
My outdoor enclosed feed abd water area was -30 C last night and my birds were struggling to eat abc drink
But at -20 the night before in there they were fine

 

[Ronnie_]

We have some very cold weather coming next week getting as low as 8 deg F at night. The ducks have a big fenced area plus a secure hardware cloth run that has plastic sheeting on most panels to block wind. They have an attached house as well. The door has a window with hardware cloth on it. There are plexiglass windows with hardware cloth too but I have them closed most of the time for the cold temps. I usually have a lot of pine shavings in there but I think I’m going to clean it all out, put a thick layer of straw down, and then more shavings. I also thought I might put a Coleman cooler on its side inside the house with more bedding in case they wanted to huddle in an even smaller space inside. Has anyone tried that? I read someone put a sterilite container in his so they had the choice. I know they’re hardy animals and they’ll be out of the wind and elements but this is the coldest weather we’ve had and I want to make them as comfortable as possible.

Yes! I have a sterlite container on its side in the back corner, I added straw inside it and around the sides - they definitely use it too, I add first Saturday like daily to the coop bedding and fluff the top layer (adding more shavings and straw every other day) every morning you can tell one of my gals was inside it . My bedding is probably 12” thick rn as I’m doing deep litter method alternating with shavings and straw and aerating it slightly a few times a week - I started the deep litter beginning of November.