- Nov 13, 2012
- 24
- 1
- 24
My ducks are free range during the day and put up at night. There are several water sources around their range that they can get to during the day.
Up until now I had a tub in their pen, in the fenced in run section. It made a horrible muddy mess, but they liked it so I kept it in there. Now that its cold at night, that mud has turned to ice and I dont really like the floor of their pen to be one solid lumpy sheet of frozen mud. I took the tub out, but now they have no water in the pen at night.
When I let them out yesterday you would have thought they were dying. Normally they linger around in the pen after I open the door, but that day they bolted out, straight for the nearest water and did nothing but drink for a good half hour. I would have thought a night without water wouldnt be a big deal, but they seemed rather upset by it.
I do notice that when they eat, they also like to drink after every mouthful, and I left the food in the pen. The only time the eat from the feeder is at night, and during the day they dont go near it, so I thought if I take it out, they would never eat from it.
Was it just them not being used to no nighttime drinking, or can they really not go a whole night without water?
Up until now I had a tub in their pen, in the fenced in run section. It made a horrible muddy mess, but they liked it so I kept it in there. Now that its cold at night, that mud has turned to ice and I dont really like the floor of their pen to be one solid lumpy sheet of frozen mud. I took the tub out, but now they have no water in the pen at night.
When I let them out yesterday you would have thought they were dying. Normally they linger around in the pen after I open the door, but that day they bolted out, straight for the nearest water and did nothing but drink for a good half hour. I would have thought a night without water wouldnt be a big deal, but they seemed rather upset by it.
I do notice that when they eat, they also like to drink after every mouthful, and I left the food in the pen. The only time the eat from the feeder is at night, and during the day they dont go near it, so I thought if I take it out, they would never eat from it.
Was it just them not being used to no nighttime drinking, or can they really not go a whole night without water?