Preparing for Cold Weather (New England)

[jennybvcr]

This will be my first fall and winter with ducks and this cool spate we’re having in CT has me thinking of how different everything will be in just a few short months. I’ve read about 1,000 blog posts but let’s be honest... everyone lies in blogs. Nothing is ever as neat or as glamorous as hindsight (and a little wine writing/wishful thinking) makes it sound.

So any folks who keep ducks in colder climates - give this first timer some advice of keeping everyone safe and happy during the winter!

 

[arrowti]

I live in Maine.

Ducks are incredibly hardy, especially because they often have a thick layer of fat since they're little piggies. However, there are some things to be careful of.

A molting duck will not be cold-hardy and will likely need to be kept indoors. This is difficult if you have a couple molting ducks and a couple non-molting because the molting ones will want to follow the others outside.

I do not have a winter pool. It simply freezes too quickly. We had the electric-heated waterers but found them to die quickly (within a year for both) so we use large rubber buckets from any feed store and smash the ice out of them every morning. These are incredibly hardy and will not break when the water freezes overnight, or when you need to break the ice out of it. Filling it with warm water indoors before bringing it out will keep the water thawed longer.

We do not heat our coop. We close the windows (there are small vents built into the coop to prevent stuffiness and potential death from lack of air flow) and use hay for bedding. The hay freezes due to water, and we add more on top. The bottom layers of hay will compost, generating more heat. Our chickens, who use shavings instead of hay because they'll try to eat the hay and we've had impacted crops from it, is a good 20 degrees cooler than our duck coop because the shavings don't compost quite so much.

When the weather is really bad, below 0 with high winds, we do not let them out. Ducks can handle cold temperatures, but when the wind comes out you need to watch them. Ours never put themselves into their shelter and would sit out in the middle of the enclosure, shivering until I made them get up.

Ice is slippery to duck feet as well. It's very common to have a limping duck during the winter because they hurt their leg. We also had ducks lose claws to the ice and bleed across the snow. It looked like a massacre. and it was just a duck with a missing claw! Our ducks will make a path through deep snow in funny ways but I do prefer to shovel paths for them. They will follow the paths. They can walk across thick snow quite easily without sinking deeply, but very light snow may not take their weight and they'll drop through. I've had a duck get 'stuck' by falling through the snow (it was over her head!) and I had to carry her out.

Increase their feed during winter because they can't forage. Treats like cracked corn are empty calories that they burn through to keep warm.

If you do choose to have a winter pool, be extremely careful. Ducks have lost feet and legs by being in the pool when it freezes over, and can, in some cases, die from hypothermia if they can't get out of the pool. They still need access to deep, head dunking water. You'll sometimes see ice frozen to their feathers from it.

My ducks will lie down during a snowstorm and disappear under the snow, standing up every so often to shake it off and show they're still alive. They're silly. They will eat snow if they get thirsty. Mine love little chunks of ice.

Last year when we had that major freeze (below 0 for weeks) we kept the ducks inside for most of it. They are getting older and much less hardy. We kept adding more bedding and making sure they had plenty of water. They didn't even want to go outside because of the wind.

Predators get very hungry during the winter, and fences may not survive the harsh weather. We had a fox come out in bright daylight for the ducks and I was lucky to be looking out the window when it did. Hungry hawks and owls that may not normally target larger ducks will also be more likely to strike. Make sure they have plenty of places to hide without tree cover!

If I think of anymore more I'll add.

 

[jennybvcr]

Wow! Thank you so so much @arrowti for the advice!! We only have 3 ducks, a 6’x10’ hardware cloth run (which we will put a hard roof over before winter) and a smaller house within the run to contain them in. I have never closed them into their house (as they are in an enclosed run) at night but will keep in mind their propensity to stay out in the elements if it gets too cold. Was not planning on keeping a pool once it gets chilly.

 

[chickens really]

Hello..
Here in Alberta, Canada it gets cold..Brrrrr!.. -28C many times over winter. I wrap vapour barrier plastic around my runs and use deep straw in the houses for them. I put straw down in the a corner of the Run also for them to lay on during the day. All my pens have covered tops. I lock mine in at night only if the temperature gets below -15C ..
I haul water 3 times a day or as needed. Mine swim on nicer winter days to keep feathers healthy and clean.
You will learn as you go...
Ducks are tough so I'm sure yours will do great.

 

[jennybvcr]

Hello..
You will learn as you go...
Ducks are tough so I'm sure yours will do great.

Thank you! The hardiness of ducks in inclement weather if why I chose them over chickens for my first foray into backyard poultry.

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

Thank you! The hardiness of ducks in inclement weather if why I chose them over chickens for my first foray into backyard poultry.

Me too! My set up is just like yours I have a dog house in a enclosed pen that has a roof on it. The vapor barrier that @chickens really mentioned sounds like a great idea! Last year was my first winter with ducks, and I just propped a piece of plywood up on the outside of the pen with a large rock as a wind breaker.

 

[jennybvcr]

Last year was my first winter with ducks, and I just propped a piece of plywood up on the outside of the pen with a large rock as a wind breaker.

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and I think this sounds like as good an idea as any!

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

I live ohio now and it's not as cold as those new England winters for sure. I grew up on the navy base in Groton CT. Miss the several ft of snow I use to see as a child.

 

[llombardo]

I have been thinking the same thing. I'm collecting pallets and I'm making an additional shelter that will be open but have three sides and that will go where the pool is. In two other corners I'm putting lots of straw. Straw will be everywhere--I can imagine clean up in spring. In the actual house I am putting a bale of straw cut in half and two sides with loose straw in the middle. There will be tarps around the run to stop wind. I also have rabbits. I worried about my rabbits last year, they were a lovely mess to clean in the Spring

 

[jennybvcr]

Well... I've been putting it off and putting it off and this weekend was supposed to be the weekend I put the roof on, and then we got a warning for our first snow (4 inches) tonight. So this morning we improvised. We're going to add one more tarp on the back end (by the shed) and a piece of plywood on the space between the fence panel and the doorjamb on the front. We're also going to put down a few more bags of sand to dry it up in there and then lay down a bunch of straw so they don't have to be directly on the ground.

The permanent roof will have to wait till spring because it was SO COLD this morning just slapping this together. The girls were a little wary of going inside when it was time to leave, but I think that had more to do with the fact that they wanted to stay in the yard rather than being freaked out about the new sides.