Ducks in Winter

[ShuckyDuckyQuackQuack]

My dad wanted to know if ducks do fine in winter and not from me (where is the trust) anyway if anyone answers it would be deeply appriciated. THANX

 

[akcountrygrrl]

Well, I live in Alaska and my waterfowl love to go outside in the winter and "bathe" in the snow. Some of them even prefer to stay outside rather than go into their shed even at 20 degrees below zero (usually won't find much of anybody out when it gets colder than that though). I have an insulated shed for them. It has a heater and a heat lamp set up. The heat lamp is turned on when the temps in the shed get below freezing and the heater is turned on when the temps outside dip below zero. My waterfowl all do fine with this arrangement.

 

[Denninmi]

In Texas, are you kidding, piece of cake! You folks hardly know what a winter is compared to what we have up here in the north.

They do fine here in Michigan when its 20 below and the windchill is minus 50. They really seem to not care too much. I couldn't even get mine to use the insulated nighttime house I built for them, they would rather just sleep outside in a pile.

The only thing you need to do in winter is provide some kind of unfrozen water source. A simple bucket is fine, just as long as it has a few gallons of water that won't freeze and is deep enough for them to dunk their heads in. I never even bought a heated bowl for mine, just went out and dumped the ice out and replaced with hot tap water a couple times a day, which they really enjoyed. Heated bowls are sold at feed and farm stores. that would work great.

Dad, if you read this, nothing to it (sorry if that's NOT the answer you were hoping for!).

 

[EmAbTo48]

Well domesticated ducks need shelter and some sort of heat source (heat lamp), fresh water, and more food since they aren't able to forage the same as in the summer. Yes, if you take care of them properly you shouldn't have an issue

Our duck house is insulated and we have 2 heat lamps for the winter, the hut is big enough for a small tub like pool I fill everday so they are still able to keep clean, however winter does suck since they make a huge mess of there shelter. So I clean it a lot more then now. Otherwise I bought 2 large heated dog bowls that keep there water from freezing and I use hay, and saw dust for bedding

Haven't had a problem yet!

 

[njduck]

my ducks have a 12x16ft shed with 2 open doors (previously used for horses) and a 5x8ft pond that is 16 inches deep. I use a water heater for a 100 gallon water trough. it keeps a 2ft area open when the rest of the pond is frozen. they hardly ever go inside. They spend more time inside during the summer for the shade then in the winter.

 

[FenDruadin]

I concur with the previous posters. My biggest challenge in winter is simply making sure they have liquid water at all times. Ducks suffer greatly in the absence of water, even just for a few hours. It's almost like breathing to them. You can purchase water tank heaters reasonable inexpensively, enough to keep a bucket of water de-iced, and then change the water once a day (because the ducks will muck it up very quickly). Or you can purchase larger tank heaters and keep even more water ice-free. Depending on where you are in Texas and how cold it gets (and for how long), you may be able to get by with just breaking the ice up and/or changing the pool(s) once or twice a day. I don't have a tank heater (though I want one), and I just dump icy water and add fresh as often as necessary, which is not often around here.

Good luck!

 

[Denninmi]

I really, really tried to get my ducks to use the house when I first built it. They were afraid of it, wouldn't go in it voluntarily. I gave up after trying for a while. The only thing they ever enjoyed about it was eating the foam insulation board when the outer sheathing fell off one side due to me more than questionable, Tim Taylor style carpentry skills.

 

[Quack]

When ever we make a new shelter for our ducks that you can lock them in we always put them in it for a few days, one even seems to do the trick, after that they seem to be fine with it.

 

[CarolAnn]

I hope to solve my duck water issue with a heated dog bowl today. I can't be constantly hauling water out and cracking ice all day during the cold months. I put away the kiddie pool in late fall and they'll get it back in the spring. While they certainly love swimming and bathing in a sizable body of water they don't HAVE to have it during the winter months. My hope is that a raised heated dog bowl they can get their heads in, but not their butts, will provide the water they need to eat and keep their nostrils clear thru these next few months in Kansas.

 

[lin48]

They will still try to get in and splash-makes a mess, but I love 'em. My calls use a round heavy rubber tub in the winter when it gets rea
lly cold, like today. Otherwise they have a storage tote with heat lamp over it.