How long can ducks go without food/water at night?

[Twhi7]

Hi everyone,
I have had my 5 adult (1 year old) khaki Campbells for a few months. I’m trying to figure out a good schedule for them since we are getting less daylight. They free range in the yard during daylight, but I make sure they are locked up in their house 20-30 minutes before sunset. However, I’ve felt kinda bad having them locked in their house for 12 hours at a time without food and water (to keep them safe from predators I currently let them out shortly after 7am and put them in around 7:15pm). We are going to continue to get less and less daylight and I’m trying to brainstorm what I can do about that. They do have a pen they can go into (their house is inside their pen) but it’s somewhat small. So I’m thinking I’ll just herd them into the pen about 20 minutes before sunset and give them the option to go in and out of their house at that time and will offer water. I really don’t want to offer them food after dark since we have been having a really bad rat problem (rats always seem to make it into the pen no matter how hard I try to rat proof). I did read somewhere that ducks are fine just being fed during daylight hours, but I’m thinking about the evenings in the winter where it gets dark around 4:30 pm... would that be too long for them to go without food? Sorry if this is a jumbled mess of thoughts lol. I’m new to ducks and still learning! Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Angel07]

It’d depend on your ducks. Are they healthy? If they’re sick they‘ll need food more often. 4:30 might be a bit early though. Is there a way you could put a bit of food in say around 6 o’clock then clean it out half an hour later? This way you shouldn’t get rats and your ducks should be right till morning. You should be able to keep water in the pen though? It’d get messy but it’s either clean up a bit of spilt water/mud or lose your ducks.

 

[Twhi7]

It’d depend on your ducks. Are they healthy? If they’re sick they‘ll need food more often. 4:30 might be a bit early though. Is there a way you could put a bit of food in say around 6 o’clock then clean it out half an hour later? This way you shouldn’t get rats and your ducks should be right till morning. You should be able to keep water in the pen though? It’d get messy but it’s either clean up a bit of spilt water/mud or lose your ducks.

They are healthy as far as I know! I could definitely do another feeding time around 6ish - good idea. And yes, they can have water in their pen, I just don’t like to keep it in their house where they’re locked up overnight.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

4:30 would be quite early to cut off food. I lock my ducks up by 9 pm. They are in the run before dusk if free ranging. When I go out to lock them up, I clean up any spilled food in the run. Once they are housed, they don't get any food or water. I only provide that if for some reason they need to be locked in the coop during the day (extreme cold weather).

 

[Twhi7]

4:30 would be quite early to cut off food. I lock my ducks up by 9 pm. They are in the run before dusk if free ranging. When I go out to lock them up, I clean up any spilled food in the run. Once they are housed, they don't get any food or water. I only provide that if for some reason they need to be locked in the coop during the day (extreme cold weather).

Thank you. Once it starts getting dark that early I may end up just leaving the food out in the pen until I lock them in for the night (around 9pm like you) and just hope they scare off any rats that make their way in.

 

[Run Amock DucksNChickens]

Is there any reason you can't put a chicken water/feeder in with them?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Is there any reason you can't put a chicken water/feeder in with them?

I don't because it can cause issues with moisture, the mess, and possibly attract mice. You just never know if your coop is 100% mouse proof until something like that happens. Many people don't keep food and water in the coop for that exact reason. Now I have put food and water in the coop when absolutely necessary. They don't need it 24/7 unless they are very young.

 

[Twhi7]

Is there any reason you can't put a chicken water/feeder in with them?

The only time I put water in their house with them overnight is when it gets really hot and it doesn’t cool down much at night. Otherwise their house becomes a huge mess and they get water everywhere. I even have a 5 gallon bucket that I drilled holes in so they just stick their heads in and can’t bathe in it - yet somehow they still get water everywhere. Gotta love ducks and their water

 

[The Moonshiner]

They'll survive even when locking them up on the shorter daylight days of year.
They don't need to eat constantly. Myself id be more concerned with long hours of limited room then long hours of limited food. Do they have a huge coop?

 

[Twhi7]

They'll survive even when locking them up on the shorter daylight days of year.
They don't need to eat constantly. Myself id be more concerned with long hours of limited room then long hours of limited food. Do they have a huge coop?

Good to know! Their pen is about 14’x5’ and their house where they are locked up overnight is fairly small, about 4’x6’. Ideally I would like to have more room for them in their pen but they do have a big yard that they free range in during daylight.