First Winter with ducks, freezing water

[HollyDuckFarmer]

I use a heated 5gal bucket and yes I do indeed pour the water directly into the bucket. I do think my ducks would create one heck of a mess in short order with a dog bowl, thus the reason why I use a bucket and not a bowl.

If you are concerned that your ducks are not tall enough to get up to the lip of a 5gal bucket, you still have options. You could a) Get a 2.5gal bucket (which is exactly what I would do if I had 6-8 ducks) or b), You can build a simple pallet water bucket patio, which is what I do here. In the spring, I'll drag the pallet patio out, and then replace it in the Fall. What you do is trace around your bucket to get the idea of how much to cut out. I used a sawzall but it is simple and would be easy to do by hand saw too. So you cut out your hole for the bucket, the bucket drops down into that space of the interior of the pallet, and the birds are raised up and it works perfectly perfectly!
Word of caution tho, the board with the brick needs to be there to prevent full-on swimming and getting in the bucket. I did have one adult drowning last year before I did this.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I thought the purpose of the heated dog bowl was to set the water bucket into to keep it from freezing, not actually put the water into it. At least that is how it was explained to me but I could have gotten it wrong. lol

I guess you could use it that way but this poster was talking about her drake being short and maybe not being able to use the heated buckets. I think there is a member that uses them just for water. I put a piece of wood over half to keep mine fro m climbing into the buckets to bathe, they can get their heads into for washing but not their whole body.

 

[libellula]

@HollyDuckFarmer oh what a fantastic idea!! I really would have not thought of that! I think that could work prefect for our set up. I don't know how common this is, but my ducks go crazy with any water. I mean, they get in it and splash around until it's empty. Lol. So this is why the dog bowls would do no good. Thank you for providing the picture. I will get my husband on this tomorrow!

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

@libellula

Wish I could take credit for the idea but I can't. Credit belongs to @Wynette @Miss Lydia @Going Quackers and @Amiga
... Plus many others who've helped me along the way!!

 

[Wynette]

I plan on ordering this as soon as we get our outside power set up:

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/no_freeze_heater_base.html

Should be used with a galvanized waterer (probably 5 gallons for us).

This should work alright for our 6 ducks

THe problem with these is that the galvanized waterers do not provide enough of a gap for the ducks to get their entire bill under the water; it's a very narrow gap where the water is accessed. Ducks need to be able to get their entire bill under the water to clear it out. If they're unable to do so, they can actually get quite ill and even die.

I thought the purpose of the heated dog bowl was to set the water bucket into to keep it from freezing, not actually put the water into it. At least that is how it was explained to me but I could have gotten it wrong. lol

I used a rubber flat-back heated 5 gallon bucket for my 6 ducks last winter, and it died a week ago. I ended up replacing it with a 2.5 gallon heated bucket because I always ended up pouring more out each morning than they used. So far, it's working just fine. I DO put a board across the top with a brick on top that covers about half of the top so they don't feel compelled to hop in; it also holds some of the heat in. I also put a larger bucket over it at night time (mine do not have access to water at night, only during the day) to hold the heat in.

 

[arnaudgf]

THe problem with these is that the galvanized waterers do not provide enough of a gap for the ducks to get their entire bill under the water; it's a very narrow gap where the water is accessed. Ducks need to be able to get their entire bill under the water to clear it out. If they're unable to do so, they can actually get quite ill and even die.

Darn, I assumed the galvanized ones would be the same as the plastic we have (they have more than enough gap in those).

I guess I will have to think about a plan B

 

[mikeru]

I use low plastic containers. or a cement hard plastic mixing pan sold at Home depot about 38 by 18 by 12 deep. My ducks are indoors at night.

 

[gravitystar]

We are using a 1.5 gal heated dog bowl that works perfect. We can't run an electrical chord to their pen so I picked up one of those deer feeder 12 volt batteries and a converter that we plug it into and they have no problems. I got the bowl on amazon for 35 I think. I just dump their water in it in the morning and at night I disconnect it so it freezes and I take the giant ice cube out in the morning and give them fresh water. ;0) Hope this can help!

 

[arnaudgf]

I use low plastic containers. or a cement hard plastic mixing pan sold at Home depot about 38 by 18 by 12 deep. My ducks are indoors at night.

The ducks are doing fine with a 12 inch deep bowl? I'm always concerned about them being able to reach into the bowl when the water level is a bit low.