Insulating duck house for winter

[BornToQuack]

Hi all,

I just finished reading this great article on here about whether or not chicken owners should insulate their coops during winter: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/to-insulate-or-not-to-insulate.65153/.

Do these same tips apply to ducks, or are ducks more cold/wind hardy? We live in Portland, Oregon, so while the winters are typically fairly mild from a temperature standpoint, we get A LOT of rain and heavy wind. We also only have three Indian Runner Ducks, and their house has fairly large windows.

Any advice?

 

[TSOWOATNKC]

Ducks are little moisture factories. I'm not planning to insulate our duck shelters at all. Mold is very toxic to waterfowl, so if necessary I'll run a heating source of some sort rather than isolate.

 

[chickens really]

My Duck houses are insulated and so is my Coop. You just need proper ventilation for air flow. Ducks need to be out of the wind and weather. I keep my feed and water out of my houses..

 

[Miss Lydia]

No need to insulate just a dry house to sleep in and get out of the weather. Last winter my Runners spent a good bit of time inside mainly when we had deep snow. But they did like to go in out of the cold wind too . I never close the windows all the way in my coops I close the bottom part to keep wind from blowing right across them but open top half for ventilation and don't put food and water inside. North facing windows get closed all the way but south and east are open at the top for air flow. Plus the top along the roof is open and covered with hard ware cloth.

Hey how is the smoke danger there now? @BornToQuack

 

[BornToQuack]

@Miss Lydia, as usual,thanks for the great advice!

As for the smoke, thankfully it started to clear up on Thursday and we're forecasted to have clear skies through the weekend. Unfortunately, the meteorologists expect the winds to shift again and bring the smoke back on Monday. Hopefully this second wave won't be as intense or last as long. Fingers crossed the firefighters can get things under control soon!

Either way, our songbirds have returned, even if only temporarily. That's a good sign to me, but unfortunately our family is starting to come down with cold-like symptoms. It's hard to tell if this is smoke related, or something our son brought home from preschool. No matter what, I'm keeping an extra close eye on the ducks just in case they start showing signs of illness.

 

[happy duck]

Ducks are very cold hardy compared to chickens! I have a house and on the door we put welded wire on it. In the winter we will put a tarp of some sort over it so the wind will stay out side and not in the coop. I have plenty of ventilation near the roof too! Also a thick layer of bedding(straw in my case) will keep them loads warm! Here is a pick of my coop so you can get an idea of how we will do it in the winter!

 

[chickens really]

I just got the alert and read insulting Ducks...I instantly thought of calling them Geese....Daffy Duck came to mind too..Sorry..Yes it's insulating Ducks.....

 

[BornToQuack]

I just got the alert and read insulting Ducks...

That's hilarious! Not sure whether these are insults, or badges of honor, but we sometimes call our ducks "feathered pigs" and "whistle pigs" due to their ravenous assaults on special treats like raspberries, blueberries, watermelon, crickets, and feeder fish. The "whistle pig" nickname is due to the squealing, grunting, and whistling sounds they make during the aforementioned feeding frenzies.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have feathered pigs too , boy are they messy. You know insulting is something we should do according to our region those who live where it get frigid and stays that way probably do insulate but I have seem members who live in Minnesota that say they don’t insulate so I guess it really depends my thing is they are hardy birds with a thick layer of down so giving them something to get out of wind rain snow in winter with out extra heat other than their bedding they should do fine. If we give them heat we maybe making it harder on them to acclimate. I am not saying all should not use heat but for those of us who don’t really live in extremes it’s not necessay and I’ve seen too many fires because of heat lamps and extension cords to use heat if it’s not a necessity.

 

[ladyh]

ducks get an undercoat just like dogs and keep them warm during winter...so do chickens