How duck & geese feet are designed not to freeze

[PINOAK RIDGE]

Winter is quickly approaching us here in the USA and I have read several posts where people are concerned about ducks being cold. I thought I would share this article so people can understand the how & why duck and geese feet were meant to survive, even in freezing temperatures. Hopefully, this will reduce some stress and worry the humans have for their feathered pets.

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


Hope this helps. Ducks are actually quite hardy.

 

[PearlTheDuck]

Winter is quickly approaching us here in the USA and I have read several posts where people are concerned about ducks being cold.  I thought I would share this article so people can understand the how & why duck and geese feet were meant to survive, even in freezing temperatures.   Hopefully, this will reduce some stress and worry the humans have for their feathered pets. 

http://askanaturalist.com/why-don%e2%80%99t-ducks%e2%80%99-feet-freeze/  


Hope this helps.   Ducks are actually quite hardy. 

Not winter here in Texas, it was 90° yesterday

Got a cold front last night so it's 55° at the moment

 

[drumstick diva]

Very interesting. Too bad human feet can't benefit from that.

 

[purslanegarden]

For their being a wild animal, I can understand that they might be outside in the cold, but for their being a water fowl, I'm impressed they can be in water during the cold seasons, when water is usually much colder than the air temperature, or at least, upon getting out of water, they could then be even colder than the air temperature.

Thanks for the link!

 

[chickens really]

I'm in Canada...North central Alberta... their feet can and do freeze.
Do not believe everything you read on line.

Cheers!

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

Not winter here in Texas, it was 90° yesterday

Got a cold front last night so it's 55° at the moment

55!!!! brrrrrrrrr

...you should live here in NJ LOL
It goes to the 40's at night about now

 

[chickens really]

Try -35 Celsius as a day time high!! I am Canadian! Ducks need straw to warm up in!

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

Its not winter here yet...it really gets cold, but not that cold!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Several years ago a member took in a friends call duck that slept in the water bowl over night and his feet froze in the water when the water froze. This duck got severe frost bite and lost most of it's feet. I wish I could remember what the thread was called but it does happen in extreme cases so even though what the link said is probably true under certain circumstances, we still have to do all we can to make sure our birds don't have something like that happen.

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

I've heard the same thing from that article in a couple other places, but I think everything must freeze eventually. So I don't doubt the article, but I think there a limit to how cold it can get.