Providing water for your duck

[trulyviolet]

today is another in a long string of days with below freezing temps here
one of the ducks, cleo, decided to bath in the water bucket

i went out to check them and check for eggs
and found her covered in ice sitting on the back wall of the duck house (inside the roofed and walled section of their day pen)

i put her under my coat and brought her inside
i dried her up after she thawed out

i brought a water bucket up and let the others out to come up to the house
let cleo out with the girls
first thing she did was jump INTO the bucket and take another bath


I was beyond upset

i brought ALL the ducks into the house

those little hussys' knew what they were doing
cause then they ALL laid their eggs in the house!

falstaff the drake knows better then to bath in this weather

i wish his daughters also knew better

vi

 

[xke4]

I sit a full water bottle in my duck dishes in the winter so they cannot get in them and bathe.

 

[trulyviolet]

Quote:
thank you so much
i never had to worry about this with my older ducks
these babies are something else

i will do that waterbottle thing today
as i have already pulled two of them out of the bucket about 3 times apeice each

vi

 

[calmlake]

a baby pool will certainly work but it will have to be emptied and refilled every few days and is not recommended if you live in a cold climate. best in that case is a heated dog water bowl or if your ducks are numerous a trough with a floating heater will work. a simple way to keep water from freezing in a smaller bowl is an aquarium air pump running into a small bubbler to keep water moving and aerated and moving water is slower to freeze too. hope that helps.

Bill
Mt Holly Duck Sanctuary

 

[zatsdeb]

if you use a heated water bucket in the winter you will have to empty it often as they will fill it up with food! they eat, and drink to wash it down, soon you will have a bunch on the bottom!!!!!!! it will make the heater not work!

 

[trulyviolet]

last year i used a birdbath heater and that worked very well
they kept getting sand and grain in it
(i always have a bag of coarse sand and gravel for them all in the pens plus oyster shell)
but i would flip the heater and tap it a bit in the bucket before i put it into the fresh bucket

i do empty the buckets at least once if not twice a day though just so they can't really build up too much muck in the bottom

i love those bird bath heaters and i can certainly recommend them

part of the cord is wrapped in wire so the birds can't peck it or destroy it

and they work
the water is like 36 degrees in the bucket
not so hot that you worry

vi

 

[jubylives]

I use a kiddie pool for mine. I just put in an a hose attached to a fish air pump attached to an air stone. Hopefully it will keep it from freezing over again. I'll know in the morning if it does or not.

jeremy

 

[jubylives]

Quote:
Well it seemed to work ok. I woke this morning to find the kiddie pool crispy except where the air stone in the water is. It didn't get very cold last night maybe around 20s. It will be interesting to see how it works below 0. Although I'd rather not find out.


jeremy