Frostbitten duck feet? please help!!

[hayleyasaurus]

Hi guys, I brought my two ducks in the house yesterday in fear that their feet would get frostbitten with this horribly cold weather in nj. One ducks feet feel perfectly nice in warm while the others is still very cold even after spending the night indoors. What can I do to warm them up?
Thanks
-Hayley

 

[dennin7418]

It was my understanding that ducks can withstand some pretty cold temperatures. I live in MA and I too have been dealing with the bitter cold this week. My ducks have been outside the entire time and retreat to their hut for the night.

Do you have plenty of bedding for them? I've put extra shavings in so they can hunker down.

If sever turn their brooder light on in the house for them.

As far as a quick fix....fill your bathtub up with warm water and let them have at it...


Atleast its going to "warm up" this weekend!

 

[Going Quackers]

Someone recently posted some good info on how duck feet worked, they are much different than we'd expect... reduced blood flow. I'll have to see if i can find it. Good bedding, protective housing etc. We were -26C the other morning, so far no one has experienced any FB.. i even let them out a bit yesterday it was still cold.. -19C but i let them decide(left door open)

Off to find the article.

Can't find the thread but i did find this article.

http://askanaturalist.com/why-don’t-ducks’-feet-freeze/

 

[hayleyasaurus]

Oh that was a really good article thank you!!! Seems like it's normal for ducks to have cool feet and they were standing in straw not ice as well so I think she'll be fine. My cayuga is a bit bigger than my welsh harlequin so maybe that has something to do with it at well. I'm overprotective of em so they'll spend the night inside again but they should be able to go out tomorrow when it warms up a bit.

 

[hayleyasaurus]

I gave them a warm bath and it worked perfectly! I gave them the bath a couple of hours ago and her feet feel normal now seems like that just happens sometimes and its not frostbite. I'm in the process of building a new pen for them but for now they have a plastic kiddie house which probably isn't the warmest but I've been filling it with lots of straw daily