Preparing ducks for winter

[Miss Lydia]

Dry feed unless wet shouldn’t freeze.they will wash in their buckets best they can .on nice days above freezing if you have them maybe put out a cement mixing tub for bathing or large rubber bowls some use

 

[casportpony]

What do you do if they don't really like corn? I have put fresh corn cobs out and cracked corn--not a favorite. They didn't touch the fesh corn at all. Mealworms on the other hand are the favorite across the board. I was getting those at the feed store and switched to online because of price.

Try rolled corn!

 

[snow5164]

True I can only get rolled corn and they have it in their feed already ,

I change to heated water tins under my waterers and up the protein for the winter months .

The most economical way I found since I had over 20 hens was by sprouting green lentils .Theres no smell , you can do it in a jar ir two .

My chickens love it !!

Look up sprouting grains , it is a nice way to up the protein and give the something fresh all winter long
It takes 4-5 days to get leaves ,

I have a post about it somewhere

The ducks will get some this year too
k

 

[WVduckchick]

Thank you! - I was about to start a similar thread.
I raised my five ducklings in a chicken-house during the summer time and of course, being ducks they never walked up the ramp to use the upstairs "apartment" and by now the whole thing is way too small for five almost fully grown indian-runners…
This is my setup:
View attachment 1531269 The chicken house is located on a wooden platform with a metal roof. The previous owners had a disgusting, ant infested dog house on it which i removed. Attached 3' tall chicken-wire around the platform, more to keep the curious ducklings in, than as a predator protection.
For the winter, i was thinking to remove the chicken-house, cover the remaining 5' opening at the top with chicken wire and install 5' plywood around the whole platform as a wind break for the duckies. Install a divider-wall in the middle to separate bedding from food and water. Do you think that would be sufficient?
The winters here in WV won't be as cold as in WI or MN, more the wet, rainy, sleet type of winter, but i was also told we might have 6' of snow, -10° and howling winds for some time. - This is my first winter here in WV and i am not looking forward to it, have lived the last ten years in Houston, TX and yes, we had frost there for some hours overnight…

WV isn’t that bad.
Ok, it can be.

I don’t do much of anything different in winter for my ducks or chickens, except I add a tarp as a wind break on one side/end of my open air coops. Actually I never took it down this year, because it also acts as a sun shade for the pen on that end.
I have heated waters in each of my 9 pens. Ducks have a big waterer that sits on a heated base.

They all need to be able to get out of wind, but still require ventilation!

 

[casportpony]

@Callduckmaster_12, where do you live?

 

[PirateGirl]

I feel like I read an article that said chickens/ducks actually need more protein in HOT weather than cold... I must look for this info.

 

[PirateGirl]

hmm... I will look more at home, suspect it's in one of my books, but I believe they need more protein in summer because they are producing more eggs and more carbohydrates (corn/oatmeal/etc.) in winter for energy/warmth.

Doing some online reading it looks like there are several factors, but in hot weather chickens will eat less food so for them to get enough protein they may need a higher protein food, another factor being that in summer they are doing more free ranging which will effect their overall diet, as well as producing more eggs (which uses a lot of protein). Food science is fascinating stuff.

 

[snow5164]

I’d really like to hear from someone that gets the kind of weather I get in southern Manitoba.

-30 ‘C with windchills in the -50’s happens for a couple weeks , not a few days .

I’m not sure how I’m going to get them into water .....

 

[Miss Lydia]

Are you going to use heated water buckets if so they will wash good enough . I am not from your part of the world but believe me they will be fine with out swimming water , you might have to fill the buckets often because they will splash all the water out bathing in them

 

[llombardo]

Are you going to use heated water buckets if so they will wash good enough . I am not from your part of the world but believe me they will be fine with out swimming water , you might have to fill the buckets often because they will splash all the water out bathing in them

Maybe I should keep both heated buckets out there so they can use the bigger one to bathe(they do that now) and the smaller one for dunking.

I was thinking alfalfa cubes soaked in water--maybe in a seperate heated bowl.