HELP ME!! Heat lamp for ducks

[Agraham0114]

My fiance is bound and determined to heat our ducks for the winter, I'm opposed. So, we're looking for advice. We have call, wood and teal ducks. We live in VA to give you an idea of the winter climate. Our temporary coops are 40 gallon rubbermaid containers with a lid. There are 4 holes at the top of the container (2 on each side) for ventilation and one larger hole they enter/ exit from. He wants to cut a hole in the lid glue a piece of wood plank to it and then place the ceramic heat lamp directly on top of the wood. The hole would be smaller than the face of the light so the bulb won't fall into the coop... I said absolutely not. It's going to roast our ducks or cause a fire....

My suggestion (if he won't give in to no heat) was to clamp the light outside of the coop pointed towards the entrance at a safe distance away so they aren't roasted and if the bulb goes it won't be in the coop to cause a potential fire...

Thoughts on the proposed approaches?
Any better ideas are welcome!!!

 

[FortCluck]

If you live in VA they do not need heat. I live in VA and have never had issues with ducks, chickens, quail, or bunnies. None need heat, they can create their own.

 

[FortCluck]

And I would get a heat plate... heat lamps are dangerous especially when used outside. The bulbs blow frequently.

 

[Alaskan]

Ducks are very hardy, and in Virginia will need zero heat.

All birds are very sensitive to toxins in the air...putting a heat anything next to a plastic tote has a high risk of causing off gassing from the plastic.

Putting a huge roof over the duck area, would however be fantastic. A huge roofed area over the coops willkeep out rain and snow in the winter, and give them shade in the summer.

 

[aart]

Our temporary coops are 40 gallon rubbermaid containers with a lid.

If you put a heat lamp on these it will be like an oven.
How big are they in inches by inches by inches?
Pics would help here.

 

[noodledog]

Fully feathered ducks don't need heat in the winter, they'll acclimate to the cold temperatures. Heat lamp bulbs will die, the power can go out, and that could kill them.
Putting a heat lamp near plastic is dangerous too as Alaskan said. As long as they have a shelter to get out of the wind they will be fine.

Mine would stay out in the snow all day if they could, I have Calls too.

 

[Weeg]

Pictures would be helpful. Heat will only hurt your ducks! IF they are fully featured and offered supplemental heat, then they will not grow in all the warm down and feathers they need for the cold. Then, one night, the power goes out, the heat lamp turns off, and you loose the whole flock because they can't handle the cold since they were accustomed to the heat. Bad idea!

 

[KaleIAm]

I agree with you - heat (especially the way your fiance wants to provide it) is a bad idea. If you give your ducks a covered area with dry deep bedding I believe they will be fine. Ducks experience temperature much differently than we do. They are very different animals than we are. My ducks happily go swimming in ice water.

I coddle my ducks - they are my adored pets and I do not provide heat. I would rather them be a little cold (and I don't think they are) than be burned to death.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I haven't had ducks as an adult, but as a kid my morning chore in WV was to go break ice where the creek had frozen over. Our ducks were wild, free range, with no duck house. I believe they were Peking ducks. They lived there for 2-3 years, through the winter, with no heat. My dad once told me he chiseled a duck out of the ice and let it thaw in the bath tub, and it survived just fine. I would venture as far to say that ducks are more cold hearty than chickens, which are pretty cold hearty usually. But like I said, I don't have ducks currently! Just speaking of some old memories here.

 

[Hei 20]

My fiance is bound and determined to heat our ducks for the winter, I'm opposed. So, we're looking for advice. We have call, wood and teal ducks. We live in VA to give you an idea of the winter climate. Our temporary coops are 40 gallon rubbermaid containers with a lid. There are 4 holes at the top of the container (2 on each side) for ventilation and one larger hole they enter/ exit from. He wants to cut a hole in the lid glue a piece of wood plank to it and then place the ceramic heat lamp directly on top of the wood. The hole would be smaller than the face of the light so the bulb won't fall into the coop... I said absolutely not. It's going to roast our ducks or cause a fire....

My suggestion (if he won't give in to no heat) was to clamp the light outside of the coop pointed towards the entrance at a safe distance away so they aren't roasted and if the bulb goes it won't be in the coop to cause a potential fire...

Thoughts on the proposed approaches?
Any better ideas are welcome!!!