Ducks water

[4ducks]

Will my ducks be ok if they don't have clean water for 4 days even if it's in the shade? I don't know if I can find someone to take care of them. I heard bacteria and stuff can be in it but it's still in the shade. Will they be ok or not?

 

[jducour]

I would be more concerned about predators. Don't you usually lock them up at night? How are they housed when you are home at night?

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Will my ducks be ok if they don't have clean water for 4 days even if it's in the shade? I don't know if I can find someone to take care of them. I heard bacteria and stuff can be in it but it's still in the shade. Will they be ok or not?

I have to ditto what jducour said and also ask what the water source is. You'd need a pretty large amount of drinking water in the summer months to last 4 days if you have many ducks. If you have that, the bacteria that forms in that time probably isn't going to hurt them. Remember that wild ducks get their water where they can find it, and it's almost never from a pristine source. If your water source is small enough that it could be overrun with bacteria in a few days, I'd be more concerned about them running out of water. Adding apple cider vinegar can help, in proportion to the amount of water.

 

[jducour]

One of the reasons I ask, I just went out of town for a week. The ducks were locked in their house every night by my neighbor. It took him less than 5 minutes a day to pop in once at night, and once in the morning to gather eggs and let them out. They have a weeks supply of fresh water in their house (I use a nipple system inside, so there are no water messes in their coop) and plenty of fresh food, it is in a dispenser that holds about 5 days worth at a time, hanging so they can't poop in it. I also have a pond on my property, so they have more than enough water for every day use. It is about 3,000 gallons, and is filtered and recycled all day. With my set up, I can safely go out of town for days at a time, and not worry about hunger, clean water or predators. I couldn't have done it without the help of my neighbor though, who was happy to do it in exchange for fresh eggs every day

 

[4ducks]

My ducks are locked up and there couldn't be a way predators could get to them. The thing I'm most concerned about is bacteria. I can give them more than enough water though

 

[needlessjunk]

My ducks are locked up and there couldn't be a way predators could get to them. The thing I'm most concerned about is bacteria. I can give them more than enough water though

They are going to need A LOT of water. Ducks play in their water and if they run out with no one checking in on them they aren't going to make it. I would do everything in my power to have someone stop by at least once a day to check on them. 4 days is just too long to not have someone checking in on them. Now that it is summer my 5 ducks are going though crazy amounts of water and I refill their 2 wateres that hold 2 gallons each everyday due to them being almost empty.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

My ducks are locked up and there couldn't be a way predators could get to them. The thing I'm most concerned about is bacteria. I can give them more than enough water though

I have to ditto what NJ said, but you still haven't mentioned how many ducks you have and what your water source is. I have a feeling you're overthinking this and you're fine. You probably wouldn't even be concerned about it otherwise, but can you answer those two things?

 

[needlessjunk]

I have to ditto what NJ said, but you still haven't mentioned how many ducks you have and what your water source is. I have a feeling you're overthinking this and you're fine. You probably wouldn't even be concerned about it otherwise, but can you answer those two things?

I believe there are 4.

 

[4ducks]

I have 2 ducks and they each have there own water. They never finish it because I always have to clean it

 

[JadeComputerGal]

I have 2 ducks and they each have there own water. They never finish it because I always have to clean it

4ducks, your 2 ducks can't have their own water if you're keeping them together like you said in a prior post. If they're together, they don't know what water belongs to which of them. If they're not together, then they're probably both very sad because ducks are very social animals. Give them a big bunch of water if you're going away for that long and nobody can come over to do it. You don't need an elaborate setup for that. I've used things like litter pans for temporary water sources, just the ones you can pick up at a store for a couple of dollars each.