Providing water in the duck pen

[start living]

Hi,
I put up a 18l bucket (picture) in my duck pen for 36 ducks. They managed to empty the whole bucket in one night only and made a complete mess, water everywhere... Is there any way to provide your ducks with water in their pen for them to only drink it whithout them spreading it everywhere? Do nipple waterers reduce the mess? They are only in their pen at night, so they can wash themselves outside during the day.

 

[Duckworth]

I don’t put water or food inside my duck house, which is where my ducks spend their nights. I make sure both are available all day and I let them out of their house each morning and put them away each night. I don’t know whether ducks can drink out of nipple waterers, but here, it’s too cold to use them in the winter anyway, so I use two-gallon feed buckets for the drinking water and add hot water during the day to keep the ice open.

At our house, ducks + water = a mess. Ducks + anything = a mess.

 

[Brahmachicken240]

they don’t need to be fed at night, aslong as they get food and water during the day, they’re fine

 

[start living]

they don’t need to be fed at night, aslong as they get food and water during the day, they’re fine

Yes, but if I don't put feed in their pen, they spent the night outside...

 

[Tinkey71]

I am confused about this too. I have a 3 gallon water and I fill it 2-3* a day- and yes it's messy.
I let them out when I am around to supervise, but they are in the coop a lot too. I've heard too many horror stories about people losing their flocks back here- coyotes, raccoons, possibly bears, bobcats, panthers, and gators are all possibilities back in Florida swamp land. They do have quite a large run, but I'm thinking about extending it and adding a kiddie pool, so they can swim to their hearts content. Right now their coop is inside a larger fenced in area with a pretty large body of water in it( I wouldn't go as far as to call it a pond). They swim daily, but only for maybe 2 hours. The outer fence is no where near predator proof- it was meant to keep in pigs. (The water was met as a wallow)

 

[DuckyDonna]

they don’t need to be fed at night, aslong as they get food and water during the day, they’re fine

The only time my ducks get anything at night is in the summer time when it's really hot outside. I put a small bucket in their pen and actually hook it to the wall of the pen so they can't tip it over. I put a tray under it to catch any spills. It's not perfect but it works fairly well.

 

[Miss Lydia]

When we had that sub freezing conditions back in Jan. I used an under the bed storage container placed my heated bucket in it on top of bricks so it wouldn't be sitting in spilled water. That actually worked pretty good. I used puppy pee pads under the bricks and on the shaving around the container. This is only in an emergency since some of my chickens won't come outside when temps get like that.

 

[chickens really]

I use rubber livestock bowls for feed and water.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I use rubber livestock bowls for feed and water.

Me too! They insulate somewhat: If it isn't too cold overnight and you fill the 5 gallon bowl with hot water in the evening it won't freeze until late morning. - Depending how much water your ducks leave in over night…

 

[chickens really]

I water mine twice a day in the winter. I use the rubber bowls so I can easily kick out the ice. Mine do great.