Thoughts on duck shoes for harsh winter frostbites?

[NorthernChick1]

Living in northern ontario and ducks being ducks... i am limited on what i can do for my duckies during our cold winter months (literally -25 to - 30 °C all of january and feb). Last year was terribly cold and there feet got to frostbitten that i learnt from my mistakes and completely insulated my whole coop (except the floor) an have done deep litter method. Unfortunately i cannot prevent my ducks from getting wet feet thus getting frost bite on there webs. I was thinking of duck shoes? Do they make insulated ones?

If anyone has any ideas on what i could do please comment!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I think all you can do is make sure the bedding is thick and water drains away. Shoes would hold moisture. Ducks will sit down on their feet to warm them. Thick bedding should help to keep them off the ground some.

 

[Ratchnick]

Do you have water in the house?

 

[NorthernChick1]

I have an electric waterer my ducks live with my chickens. The ducks do splash water. And i cant keep up with adding bedding evertime that the water freezes on the ground. There feet dont seem to bother them and they have a heat lamp close to the ground and they do get sufficient heat... but i can see there webs all cracked up.. i do have bag balm i dont know if that helps once they already have cracked feet...


I am currently working on converting our old dog house into a duck house for them during winter in the garage but its not done... it has a small porch where the wate will be so it wont get wet inside the house.. but like i said i cant put them in there yet because its not completed yet and i only have one eletric waterer.

 

[Ratchnick]

I suspect that you wont have further problems once you switch to the new setup. However if you wanted to improve your current situation that is probably also possible. How to you currently offer water, can your ducks get in it?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Use the bag balm it's meant to help cracked cow teats and will work to help protect your ducks feet. How many ducks do you have/ I use heated water buckets but I don't keep water inside and my ducks and chickens are in the same house.

 

[Isaac 0]

A very well insulated coop is not necessarily a good thing. How much Ventilation do you have in you're coop? First year i kept chickens almost all got frostbite because there was not adequate ventilation.Last year we got down in the -40 wind chill and i didn't have a single case of frostbite due to the fact that i now have plenty of ventilation.

A coop with plenty of ventilation, free of drafts (Snow/Rain) and dry bedding is is essential to a ducks health.

 

[NorthernChick1]

I have two ducks that house with my 10 chickens. I have cracks through the windows and one through the door. Its so freaken cold that we had to seasonaly insulate the roof so i lost all ventilation that came from the roof. The wind hits the coop in every direction to so its hard to same some sort of verry efficient ventilation when theres potential for so manny drafts. The ducks get full access to the waterer. I will start aplying bag balm on there feet untill we get the dog house in order! (Hopefully in the next few weeks as my hubs works out of town and is never home)

 

[DiYMama540]

Yes to bag balm! I've started using it on my hands that get so dry they crack and bleed, works wonders! Will stay on pretty well through washing also!

 

[Ratchnick]

The rule of thumb for ventilation is 1 square foot per bird. Put The vents up higher then the birds so the drafts are not at their level. Seal up your cracks with expanding foam and weather stripping.