Overwintering my duck

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Debbie292d said:
Hiya, and welcome to BYC! :frow

Ducks mostly only need protection from the elements, so something like that in your picture would work well. It appears that's hardware cloth so it would protect him from predators at night, if he'll go in there every night.
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Thank you! Right now, we are feeding him twice a day and moving the bowl closer to the enclosure. He has just started responding to that, and I’m hoping in time I’ll be able to put the food inside the enclosure. Right now he’s just not used to being inside anything. He does like us and follows us around our pond as we walk. Our dog are doing any work on the backside. Do you think eventually he’d be willing to go inside the enclosure? We are going to put bedding in there as it gets colder… Wood shavings and straw. It can get cold here as we live in Oregon. By cold, I mean never below zero but in the 20s, and sometimes we get ice storms. Our pond does not freeze over as we have three raiders in there to move the water around. But we do get snow every year, several inches at least.
 
Huey2024 said:
Thank you! Right now, we are feeding him twice a day and moving the bowl closer to the enclosure. He has just started responding to that, and I’m hoping in time I’ll be able to put the food inside the enclosure. Right now he’s just not used to being inside anything. He does like us and follows us around our pond as we walk. Our dog are doing any work on the backside. Do you think eventually he’d be willing to go inside the enclosure? We are going to put bedding in there as it gets colder… Wood shavings and straw. It can get cold here as we live in Oregon. By cold, I mean never below zero but in the 20s, and sometimes we get ice storms. Our pond does not freeze over as we have three raiders in there to move the water around. But we do get snow every year, several inches at least.
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He may not go in when the weather is nice, but I'd think he'd be looking for cover in the elements. That's a neat way to get him closer to it and already is familiar to him, just not using it yet. He'd be seeking some type of protection and I'll bet that's where he'll go, especially once you have some bedding in there.
 
Ducks prefer staying on the pond. They can stand pretty harsh conditions and will just curl up in the snow instead of going to a shelter. What I do to get my ducks in a pen at night is only give food pellets at night. The pellets are only put in their pen. Hopefully as your duck gets use to your set up it will go to its shelter for food and learn that is the place to go at night.
 
Debbie292d said:
He may not go in when the weather is nice, but I'd think he'd be looking for cover in the elements. That's a neat way to get him closer to it and already is familiar to him, just not using it yet. He'd be seeking some type of protection and I'll bet that's where he'll go, especially once you have some bedding in there.
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I want to thank you all so much! These comments and suggestions give me hope that I’m moving in the right direction with regards to his winter care!
 
Yardmom said:
Ducks prefer staying on the pond. They can stand pretty harsh conditions and will just curl up in the snow instead of going to a shelter. What I do to get my ducks in a pen at night is only give food pellets at night. The pellets are only put in their pen. Hopefully as your duck gets use to your set up it will go to its shelter for food and learn that is the place to go at night.
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Thanks so much for your information/ suggestions!! I will give nighttime pellet feeding a try, and plan on getting the bedding the next time I’m in town.
 

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