Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[Miss Lydia]

I only wanted to over winter 3 muscovies and I have 7. Idk why/how her tail got bloody. New heated water bowls arrived. Now to winterize the bunny waterers.

I can't catch her, so I just hope she's going to be ok. My bf hurt his hand really badly, so will be of no help. The ones I am nor keeping were intended to fill our freezer to feed us this winter. Along with my excess roosters. I'm trying to figure it all out.

I guess you can tell some of us don't eat out ducks. I do understand some do though. If they go inside of a night that would be the best time to catch her.

 

[Double Kindness]

I still haven't caught her yet, but am keeping very close watch on her and opened up the pen. It's my youngest girl giving me grief atm, her name is now Trouble. The dark brown one is Truffle. And the big black drake is Elvis. I have been thinking she told me her name is Lilly. I think my critters talk to me, but others might find me crazy for saying such things. I'm very soft hearted, which is why they are all in my back yard still and not the freezer.

Now if I could keep my bunny water bottles from freezing, I would be having a far better winter.

 

[Onlyducks]

I am curious about the bunny water bottles—I'm guessing they are for bunnies. Can you use a dish instead, and just dump the ice?

How are the heated dishes working? Mine actually had a layer of ice one morning, even though it was inside the greenhouse. The cold penetrates everything.

This is my first winter for keeping ducks over the winter. I usually either give them away or eat them. We decided to keep the muscovies and winter them over because they are very nice ducks, quiet and not aggressive. If one ends up with frostbite on the foot, she may end up in the freezer, but hopefully they'll all do okay.

 

[veronicasmom]

I think the heated dishes or small heated buckets work very very well. I am in Maine and it was crazy cold here last winter. I never had an issue. And we use a small birdbath heater in their pool which worked great. I think maybe if you started out with some hot water from the house, maybe the dishes would not ice up? Was it frozen or just a bit of ice covering they could easily break through?

I don't like the idea of the water bottles. For ducks OR rabbits in the winter. The tubes freeze up almost instantly and are unusable. I know some say their ducks learn to use a bottle but then they cannot wash faces, And that is really important. The bottles are just awful for the winter. I have very small (1 qt) heated bowls for my outdoor rabbits and those are wonderful. Rabbits drink very well out of them. I can't imagine why or how a rabbit or duck could survive using a tube waterer when temps go below freezing.

 

[Onlyducks]

The bowl just had a thin layer of ice on top. My guess is the prolonged below zero temperature finally caught up. It has happened only once in a week, it was probably just a fluke. When I return the ducks to their pen, I will be switching to rubber water dishes and just filling morning and night. The heated dish is not practical for their pen. If the rubber ones prove too problematic, then I may have to revamp the pen so the heated one can be used. As noted, this is my first full winter with ducks so this is all just a matter of trying things and adjusting as time goes along. I've made numerous adjustment so far simply because it turned cold so fast. This will be a learning experience for me!

(I take either hot or warm water out for the dishes once or twice a day.)

 

[Buck Oakes]

Is anybody else having really bad weather long with the cold, because yesterday it rained and to top it off it was below freezing this morning, so guess what..... their bedding froze, like its frekin ice..... perfect :fail ..... anyway I'm getting some plywood sheets before thursday so when it rains again i can put the plywood on top of their coops.( by the way they do have a roof, but the roof is chicken wire, so no actual shelter, just protection)

 

[Onlyducks]

I have a large wooden crate in their pen for cover. I moved some bedding today and it was not frozen. I have blocked off wind from the north and west, so that helps. The plywood should help, but when it rains and then freezes, these may be no good way to keep the bedding from freezing. You might just add more dry bedding over the frozen stuff. Yes, it makes a bigger block of frozen stuff when it rains again if the plywood doesn't help, but it might help for a bit anyway. There really is no good way to protect the bedding in a chicken wire pen. My ducks didn't seem to mind this spring when I first got them if the bedding froze or not. (It did freeze a couple of times overnight as it was very cold in March.) Oh, I have also used a vinyl flap over the front of the crate to help keep out rain—rain it part way down. If it's getting up high enough in temp that it can rain, they may be fine. Good luck with this—it's really pain.

 

[Onlyducks]

Oh! I need to add that if you are adding the plywood over the chicken wire, be sure you have plenty of support for the plywood. Ice is heavy. Last fall, we got a wet, heavy snow in October. I went out to feed the ducks and half the pen's cover (chicken wire and snow fence) had collapsed under the weight of the snow. I never, ever considered how much ice and snow weighs. I had supports, but they were simply not strong enough. Luckily the ducks had ran to the non-collapsed side and were fine. This year, I added 1 inch rebar supports under the chicken wire and snow fence. So far, so good!

 

[Buck Oakes]

I have a large wooden crate in their pen for cover.  I moved some bedding today and it was not frozen.  I have blocked off wind from the north and west, so that helps.  The plywood should help, but when it rains and then freezes, these may be no good way to keep the bedding from freezing.  You might just add more dry bedding over the frozen stuff.  Yes, it makes a bigger block of frozen stuff when it rains again if the plywood doesn't help, but it might help for a bit anyway.  There really is no good way to protect the bedding in a chicken wire pen.  My ducks didn't seem to mind this spring when I first got them if the bedding froze or not.  (It did freeze a couple of times overnight as it was very cold in March.)  Oh, I have also used a vinyl flap over the front of the crate to help keep out rain—rain it part way down.  If it's getting up high enough in temp that it can rain, they may be fine. Good luck with this—it's really pain.  

Oh see the plywood is just like this large wooden wall like that would be used to make a house it's completly inpenatrable and will have no problem, see the bedding froze because tey don't have a sheltered roof, and yet have a dog house , but only to go
In it

 

[Buck Oakes]

And te pluwood is not going to be supported by the chicken wire, but by the fencin the chicken wire is supported to, it's really hard to explain I'll post a pic later