How do ducks do through the winter?

[headred]

As my DH and I were sitting out on the back porch tonight, he asked what I planned to do with the ducks in the winter. (he hopes this is a passing hobby) He is worried about water, the hose, the cold, etc.

Can those of you who have been through a cold winter tell me what are your most difficult obstacles and what DO you do about water, etc? I have had my ducks since March and they are just starting to lay. I can't even imagine them going away now. Give me your best pointers so I can assure DH that it will all be OK. Thanks!

 

[Katy]

Quote:
I have call ducks. I use a dog house for their shelter and they very rarely go in to it...even in the midst of a blizzard!! In the winter I use concrete mixing tubs instead of the kiddie pools for their water as long as I can use the hose. When it gets so cold that draining the hose every day becomes too much trouble I use black rubber feed pans that hold about 2 1/2 gallons of water. I carry the water from the house since I don't have a hydrant anywhere close to the pen. I refill them 2 to 3 times a day. PITA, but it's gotta be done.

 

[xfilesnumber1fan]

My ducks were just fine durning the winter outside..They have petbarns for shelter stuffed with straw I dont use the pool to hard to keep the hose from being frozen so I use just drinking buckets holds about 2 1/2 gallons they dont need to swim all winter..I use straw on the floor and in spring clean it all out..The cage they are in is tarped on the sides back and top with clear to keep the wind out..They are wearing down coats...

 

[ChickenToes]

This is probably my favorite thing about ducks - how well they do in winter.

Last winter I had about 20 chickens as well as my ducks. On really cold days, my chickens would refuse to leave the coop. I had to deal with frostbitten combs, wattles, and toes, and they almost stopped laying eggs altogether, I was lucky to get 1 egg a day from 16 hens. Then I had to deal with frozen waterers all the time.

My ducks, on the other hand, were so easy to care for. On days that my chickens wouldn't leave their coop, the ducks would be outside swimming in their water dish. They would sleep on snowbanks out in their run, and get covered in snow. They looked like little snow-covered mounds with bills.

For their water, I use a 3 gallon black rubber bowl. I would fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of warm water and carry it outside and fill the bowl. It wouldn't freeze for over half the day, if it froze at all. The next morning I would tip the bowl over and kick the ice out of it and fill it up again.

 

[Sweetfolly]

I use one of those heated dog-water bowls in the winter (they don't get a swimming pond during the winter, but they do seem to "bathe" in the snow when they're outside during the day), and I give the ducks an extra little wooden box (within their nighttime pen) to sleep in and conserve body heat. Besides lining the pen with lots of straw, those are the only two things I do differently in the winter, and they do just fine in Wisconsin winters where they've seen temperatures drop into the negative teens overnight.

So, you can tell your DH that the duckies will be just fine - they don't have to go anywhere!

 

[Wifezilla]

Hubby always tells me when I worry about the ducks in the snow...

"Honey...they are made of down. RELAX!!"

The biggest pain is the frozen water bucket thing. If you have electricity, the heated dog bowl is great. If you don't have electric, an old round cooler (about 2 gallons) filled with warm water at night usually doesn't freeze before morning.

 

[headred]

Thanks for your posts! I wasn't concerned at all about them keeping warm, just the water thing. Guess in the winter we'll take away the pool (as you do with kids!) and use the electric water bowl. Good idea!

 

[Katy]

I didn't see until after I had posted my reply that you're from Kansas too....I'm in the central part of the state.

 

[AkTomboy]

Watering in the winter is always a pain in the butt! And I dont have ducks yet but I do water horses and have many 4-H kids in my club who do the same as me. I use forestery hose that is collapable. Its nylon with a rubber lining and over 400 ft fit in one 5 gal bucket. So I just hook it up and go then when everything is filled up I just turn it off and pull it back into the bucket. Super fast and easy then I just put the bucket inside about two hrs before I need to water again.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Mine do fine, as long as they stay dry. Last year, I made the mistake of using the rubber tubs and they splashed water out & I ended up losing two to frostbite by having their feet freeze off.

I plan to make some modifications to their pen this fall to eliminate the possibility of them splashing water & lhaving them stand in it.