Heated duck house?

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

Here in VT we get some pretty cold nights in the winter, I am
Building my duck house next week and am considering what to do. We have installed some radiant electric floor heat under hardwood before and I was thinking about putting a small piece of that in the floor just to keep it above freezing in there 35-40 degrees? Any thoughts? Is it a bad idea?

 

[Isaac 0]

Main thing that concerns me is if the power went out during low temps, Ducks are very good at acclimating to temps, but if there was to be a sharp drop in temp, there may be a some problems.

I don't think there is really a need to heat the coop. Iowa winters are cold too, It got down to -35 in 2018 and none of my birds had any problems. They are much tougher than people think.

 

[TomCahalan]

I don't think that you need it for adult ducks, but it would be useful if you ever decide to brood ducklings in that coop.

 

[Isaac 0]

It'd be very useful for ducklings, but what if the power went out in the middle of the night?

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

I’m not real fussed about power outages, I have about 10 generators around. I wouldn’t mind moving my ducklings out of the living room sooner rather than later... but as it’s April the weather is pretty raw.

 

[Isaac 0]

That's your choice then, you won't know if the power goes out in the middle of the night so that's something you need to consider before moving them out.

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

I did wonder however if it would be temperature shock for them , I plan to insulate with foam and I have some tongue and groove pine that I am doing wall floor and ceiling with 2” foam and then sheet metal roofing. Maybe it will be fine, I have some Single glaze windows I plan to put in so they can
Open to vent awning style. What temps do you leave the vents open all night? It’s one of those things I never thought about till I had them here and had to figure out how to keep them
Comfortable

 

[Isaac 0]

My coop is connected to my run, which is covered with plastic currently but in a month I'll probably take it off, that's my ventilation.

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

That's your choice then, you won't know if the power goes out in the middle of the night so that's something you need to consider before moving them out.

My response came out snarky sounding, didn’t mean it to, what I should have explained, our internet and computer UPS system alarms when the power goes out so I know right off. if it was real Cold it wouldn’t be a big problem to go out and start the generator. But if it was just necessary for ducklings it wouldn’t be likely to happen this time of year anyway.
I gather consensus is that adults are better self acclimating though?

 

[Isaac 0]

My response came out snarky sounding, didn’t mean it to, what I should have explained, our internet and computer UPS system alarms when the power goes out so I know right off. if it was real Cold it wouldn’t be a big problem to go out and start the generator. But if it was just necessary for ducklings it wouldn’t be likely to happen this time of year anyway.
I gather consensus is that adults are better self acclimating though?

Didn't think it was snarky at all, If you have an alarm incase your power goes out then you should be fine and yes.