Extreme heat question

[TexasTony]

Hi everyone,

I got some ducks a couple of months ago. I have an adult pair of Rouens, and an adult female Indian Runner. I also have a pair of 2 month old Rouens, and 3 ruoen ducklings born last Friday.

I'm in central Texas & it was a miserable 105 F yesterday. I'm out in the country, the ducks have a 1/4 acre yard with a half dozen large oaks for shade and a couple of kiddie pools. The adults were fine. Usually it doesn't get that hot around here, but we're on our 3rd year of drought and the dryness really lets the temperature skyrocket (usual summer highs are 101-ish).

But, yesterday evening I came home to a dead baby duckling. The ducklings are in a 4'x4' pen. Open metal mesh on 2 sides solid metal wall on top & other two sides. They had a waterer (donut shape with water container in the middle, typical chicken-type waterer) with plenty of water, & 2 food dishes. The flooring is a sort of hard plastic panel which has some 'handle' holes which have rocks over them to prevent the babies from falling or hurting their feet. At night I've been putting the ducklings in the garage when it's down into the 'cold' 78F range (garage stays around 90F).

This morning I put them into a 8'x8' pen with chicken wire on side/top, & shade on a 4'x8' part, plus it's under a tree with dirt floor, same food/water setup but also a small aluminum roasting pan with water that they can almost step over into/out of.

My ever-the-wise-one wife thinks that I cooked the baby. I guess it's possible. No signs of anything else, the baby wasn't stuck or in the water. Just laying flat out in the middle of the pen. Duckling had been fine yesterday morning.

OK, so down to my question. How hot is too hot for ducklings? Assume they have the food & waterer and are in the shade.

Thanks
Tony (who's in trouble!)

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Yesterday afternoon it was 102 here with heat index of 113. We've had record setting triple digits for a week now & more expected through the weekend.

My ducks are in a fenced yard with grass, half to 3/4 of it shaded, with a kiddy pool & a small plastic doghouse they go into at night. When I go home for lunch I rinse out & refill their pool & give them frozen chopped greens like spinach or brocolli or collards, or frozen peas & carrots. So far, so good.

I think your metal is getting too hot for your ducklings & I'd give them a plastic kitty litter box (what I used before I got the pool) or tupperware instead of aluminum to cool off in.

Edited to add mine are about 2 months old.

 

[ChickenToes]

I would guess that anything over about 95 degrees is too hot for ducklings, depending on how old they are. Just try to keep them as cool as possible.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

It may also have been the adult ducks (or one of them, anyway) that harassed him to death. If they are really small, and the adults did not hatch them, they consider them newcomers, and will treat them accordingly.

I know that I have one drake in particular who has to be watched with new additions. I have to keep the babies seperate from the main flock until they are old enough to escape well from the bigger ones teaching them the "pecking order".


ETA _ I just re-read and discovered they are seperate

sorry for my mistake. Maybe it's the plastic heating up, also? I stepped on a piece of plastic the other day that had been sitting in the sun (been upper 90's with over 100 heat index, here) and almost burned my foot on it.

Did I read correctly that they were on plastic with stones on top? The plain dirt would probably be better for the heat dispersal.

meri

 

[TexasTony]

OK, just to clarify. The floor is plastic. Picture a kitchen plate, but 4 ft across & square, with 2 holes per side made for a hand to be able to hold it, and maybe 1" think. It's got a lip similar to a kitchen plate, & it's inverted so water runs off. The rocks are over the handle holes to prevent the ducklings from falling through. The rocks are fist-sized concrete chunks.

Also, the 'open' sides of the 4 ft pen are metal mesh, an adult bill wouldn't fit through, & it'd be a challenge for a duckling to get their head through.

From maybe 10 am onward through sunset the cage is in shade. The cage doesn't have a bottom, & I put that plastic thing down to prevent a predator from digging its way in. For today's setup, I happened to drain the kiddie pools & it flooded where the ducklings are, so they may get some cooling from that water evaporating through the day.

When I get home from work tonight I guess I'll see how they did in the new setup. It is 'only' 103 today... If I lose another one my wife will need to create the login name of Widowzilla!
Thanks
Tony

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

Quote:
I think your problem is radiant energy.
Depending on how close the metal roof, on which the sun shines, you could litterally "toasting" them.
Not only is the air hot the metal roof is adding to the heat stress by re-radiating the energy from the sun which it is blocking.
Best thing to do would be to get a radiant barrier that includes aluminum foil. Otherwise multiple layers of anything with space in between. Like a leafy shade tree.

 

[TexasTony]

Thanks Neil, I was thinking the same thing. But I'm going to stay with the 8ft dirt-floor pen for now. They'll be staying in the garage at night for safety (for them & me).

So an update, good news. Got home & all the ducklings are just fine.

According to the radio, it was another 106 or 107F day. By Saturday the highs should be back down in the 101F range. I used my IR temperature gun, & the cement outside was 109F. Garage floor (closed with an insulated big door) was a cool 90F, and so is the dirt under trees in the duckling pen. The plastic floor of the smaller pen was 93F, & the metal topper was 98F. All of that was at 6:30pm. Oh, the duckling turkey roasting pan was 1/2 empty & dirty, naughty ducklings! But they're all alive & well, so it's good news.

While I was with the ducklings, a darker cloud came over. At first I thought it was one of our 2 foot rain floods (after the rain you see one raindrop every 2 feet on the ground). But it was enough to get the cement wet! OK, so it was maybe 5/100ths of an inch, but Praise God for that much! Just keep it coming every hour for the next two months!

Tony

 

[sayyadina]

Tony, I'd be more than happy to send you our rain. Here in Maine, we're moving into our second solid week of rain. Ground is completely saturated.

Before this past week, I never thought it would be possible to hit a heat index of 163 with temp 66F but 97% humidity!

 

[chixie]

it was 102 degrees here yesterday with heat index of 108 ... I have been freezing gallon size water jugs and 2 liter coke bottles and putting them in water dishes and pools to keep it cool and also having to change their water out at least once a day( in the heat of the day)... its been lots of fun... I keep praying for rain so it will cool off a little bit

 

[goosedragon]

Young ducklings are unable to regulate their own body temperature, (thats why they have to be brooded) If external temps are above normal body temps they can be in trouble because they aren't built to shed heat. Bath water can help due to evaporation cooling even if the water is as hot as the air (it usually isn't). A breeze or wind also helps. commercial Poultry houses in the South alweays have fans built in to shed heat (back up generators are common since line loads get high when it is hot) Air conditioning isn't common but 'swamp coolers' are. Liguid water absorbs a lot of heat when it turns into vapor, so liquid water is sprayed into the air stream to cool it so it can cool the birds. The drier the incoming air the more cooling you will get before the air becomes saturated with water vapor.