Not looking forward to winter :( .......How do you do things??

[Going Quackers]

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I would expect so! and yes your right... animals would be on the main floor.. so maybe that helped keep them warmer..? I know i adore my water heaters lol still loads of work to haul the water but i know with certainty they have access to water.

 

[GrannyCarol]

I've seen some ingenious designs for solar heated waterers that don't freeze, you might search around on the internet to see what you all can find.

Here, we do have power to our duck runs. I use metal buckets with bucket heaters and pare down to two pens for night time use. The bucket heaters will keep the water thawed right down to below zero, though there will be some ice and I add warm water at times. We have a freeze proof spigot near the duck buckets, but we're having issues with it freezing, darn it! We dug it out and found the drain field was compromised with a lack of gravel and tree roots.... thought we'd fixed it, but it froze a few days ago and it only works when it warms up in the afternoons... I think its worse than it was before we "fixed" it! Looking for a repair kit, since it seems to be more than the drain field. At least it quit bubbling water up next to the pipe.

For bathing, I wouldn't even try to keep a kiddie pool going here. It gets below zero (down to 20-30 below sometimes) and it would just ruin the pool. We have concrete contractor's tubs and I put one out under the sort of freeze proof spigot and let them bathe on the warmer days. The ice easily dumps out of those tubs, they are inexpensive (I have several of two different sizes) and they are tough. The ducks don't have any problem with bathing in cold weather, their feet could possibly freeze, but don't seem to. They are designed to migrate at high altitudes in cold weather, they pull their feet into their down and are fine. In fact, they don't seem much bothered by bad weather.... though I do lock them in the house if its windy and cold, otherwise they have access to a house and a yard (no heat) with lots of deep straw, which they love. I've never lost one due to cold weather, though one poor boy who had a leg injury that I thought had healed, slipped on the ice and reinjured himself so badly I had to put him down. They make ice with their feet - I keep straw on hand to keep putting over it all winter when its too frozen to clean. In the spring I have a big mess to clean, but they are comfortable all winter.

For 25 ducks, part of the year we have to carry the water to fill their buckets. It's a lot of work and I'm glad my husband helps, because I can't carry a full bucket. We go through 6 to 9 gallons of water a day for drinking and more if they bathe. It's one reason I shoot for no more than 20 ducks before bad weather, that and more than that would need more than two pens, really adding to the mess and the work. I don't think we'd be able to care for much more and do a good job, so I limit myself.

 

[zzGypsy]

here we have built in waterers with heat - the pipes and electrical go underground and the unit itself stays heated above freezing. this works for horses and cattle because the units we've got are tall. looks like this without the lower waterers: http://www.lucoinc.com/Cattle-Waterer.html I'm looking at heated dog bowls for the chickens and ducks, although we might need a hose-warmer electrical tape to keep the line that feeds them from freezing. might look into the birdbath heater as well for the pool.

all the outdoor water taps on our place are designed to be no freeze - the pipes are underground, and the spiggots are on long upright pipes with what looks kind of like pump handles. you pull the handle up to open the water flow. when you push it back down, it opens a drip hole in the pipe below ground that drains the water from the standing portion of the pipe... that way there's nothing but air in the pipe above ground, so no freezing. with this setup, as long as you drain the hose after using it there should be no ice issues. looks like this: http://quinbyhardware.com/Products/...N-YARD-HYDRANT/PLUMBING/VALVES/SIMMONS-MFG-CO

Our kennel building has exposed PVC piping on the inside - I'm going to have to ask our neighbor if they've had freezing that will crack these pipes if we don't heat the kennel. if so, we may have to drain them for the winter and water off the no-freeze tap and the hose.

 

[Hattiegun]

I completely wrap by nite pen in plastic,, fill it with straw,, and was lucky enuff that when i built my pen was able to have a water spicket right over my pond. and use a stock tank heater with a protective cage around it .. last winter we had minus 20 degrees and the pond never even iced up... and was still able to drain and refill with no problems..
I know they have heated water hoses and heated buckets, dont know how the hoses work tho...

 

[cdnley]

Last winter my ducks had a heated pad to sit on. I am not sure if it worked though. I had no water for them to bathe in for the whole winter. When the temperature is -20 to -40C their feathers freeze and then seperate which allows cold air to touch their skin. They would try to sit in their water and then get poo and big chunks of ice stuck to their butts. It was not a pretty sight. So this year I will give them warm water buckets to drink and wash their faces in. I had a heated dog water bowl that would freeze all the time because it was so cold. Winter generally will really start late November and go into early April. 5 months of being unable to bathe sounds harsh but I really do not have a choice.

I am not sure what I am going to do this year with the water situation. I think hot water in their frozen water bowl 2x a day is what will work for me. Plastic gets so brittle when it is this cold that if I try to break it up the container will shatter. Trying to haul heavy frozen buckets of ice will wreck havock on my neck as well. I think I will have to purchase a black rubber bowl but I do not want them trying to swim in it so I will have to put a grate over top.

For heat I will have a bulb and a timer. There are windows on their house which should let in sunlight from the south and west.

Ducks are pretty hardy considering. They just need lot of high quality feed, straw to lay in, water, and added greens. I am thinking of making a deal with the local grocery store to give me their expired lettuce so I can feed it to them. Most of the time the outer leaves are looking a bit "juicy" but if you peel them off the insides are delish!

 

[millefleur]

Wild ducks get in an out of very cold water to stand on ice all the time without much problem. Ducks have a sort of anti-freeze going on in their feet that usually keeps them out of trouble in very cold weather, and they stand on one foot while warming the other in their breast feathers.

Stock tank heaters (both floating and drain plug) will work in metal and rubber tanks. They can be gotten at ranch supply stores or internet. Since they do not hurt livestock when drinking I do not think that they would harm swimming ducks. I don't know how they do in swimming pool plastic. Folks here in Montana with ducks either use stock tanks with heaters or just do without the pool for the winter and keep their drinking/playing water unfrozen with heaters like the above posts mention. Stock tanks can have ramps leaned against them for ducks to walk up, or another structure to walk up to get in the tank.

I do not have electricity to my barn that my chickens live in, and so take hot water out to them every morning - pouring it over the metal water container to unfreeze the ice, and then filling it up with fresh water. This has worked for my small flock of chickens for 30 years - even in -30 degrees.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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