To heat or not to heat?

[bclaflin]

I have 2 female khaki campbell ducks (9ish months) . I have attached pictures of their enclosure it's about 30ft long and 10ft wide.

I live in Michigan so our winters tend to get pretty chilly this week we are expecting the temps to drop into single digits. Most winters we will spend a good amount of time in negative numbers with a pretty rough winds.

I have read through most of the forums on here and haven't really gotten an answer to my question yet. Being that I live in area with ALOT of coyotes and fox we do lock our ducks into a house at night to keep them safe. We have put straw around their night time house since it is not insulated in hopes it will keep the wind to a minimum it also has about 6inches of pine bedding inside that we fluff once a day. In their night time house we keep food and water with pretty good success. We also have a daytime house which is filled with straw and a second bucket of food with their water outside.They have started to spend a fair amount of time in the daytime house since the temperature has dropped below freezing. So far it seems like this works pretty well and they seem happy except in the morning when I let them out. They both seem slow and not as talkative as normal and I believe I've seen a bit of shivering which makes me think that because there are only two of them they are not creating enough body heat to keep themselves warm. They also spend alot of time just laying around with their heads tucked under their wing. Although I know in the colder months egg production does tend to go down or stop both my girls are still laying one to two eggs everyday.

My debate is do I heat their house a little. I was considering a wall mounted panel that doesn't get super warm just enough to give them an artificial flock to cuddle with. Or do I not heat it And assume that because ducks are hearty little buggers that they will be just fine.

 

[3bird]

We are brand new to ducks, so certainly not experts! We have seven silver Appleyards in Maine. We elected not to heat the duck house after lots of research and conversations.

At the moment, our guys have access to the duckhouse, which is elevated, 24/7. The duckhouse is 8'x4' and the attached, covered run is 16'x8'. The section of the run below the duckhouse is banked with straw bales for the winter, and that's where they seem to want to hang out most nights. Our one hen who is laying consistently will often spend much of the night on her nest in the duckhouse. There is a thick layer of straw over about 3/4 of the run, and we are using the deep litter method in the duckhouse with pine shavings and straw for the nests. They have 24/7 access to water (in a heated bucked with most of the top blocked so they can't get in it!) and food in the run. We generally let them out twice a day to forage.

We had planned to lock them in more at night, but they really seem to prefer being out. Wind can be an issue here on the coast, but they have both the house and the underneath area to get out of the wind.

Like I said, we are no experts, but our guys appear happy and healthy. On the heating question, we made the situation not to heat because 1) They're ducks (down jackets and fat!), 2) We were warned that a heated area could actually cause issues because they may not be as "fluffed" up and ready for the cold if they are near the heat source, and then when they move away, they could get chilled very quickly, 3) All the horror stories of fires.

...and with our first real snow last night, we're learning our guys LOVE the snow.

 

[chickens really]

Straw actually holds in heat better than shavings...Also a covered spot during the day with straw and wind breaks are best...Ducks can handle cold it's the wind that gets them...

 

[bclaflin]

They have a access to both houses one with straw and one with shavings during the day also their whole run is blocked on one side by a garage and partially on the other side by a van. The way I have their houses set up they could also use both of those to block wind. We've tried straw in the nighttime house but they always spill their water and seem to make a huge mess which is why we switched back to shavings. The reason I'm concerned is the fact that they are reluctant and shiver in the mornings.

 

[junebuggena]

Your duck houses are too small for any sort of heat to be used safely. Keep their feed unlimited and you may want to give them some scratch grains for extra calories.

 

[chickens really]

They have a access to both houses one with straw and one with shavings during the day also their whole run is blocked on one side by a garage and partially on the other side by a van. The way I have their houses set up they could also use both of those to block wind. We've tried straw in the nighttime house but they always spill their water and seem to make a huge mess which is why we switched back to shavings. The reason I'm concerned is the fact that they are reluctant and shiver in the mornings.

Don't put feed and water in the houses....

 

[bclaflin]

Your duck houses are too small for any sort of heat to be used safely. Keep their feed unlimited and you may want to give them some scratch grains for extra calories.

That's why we are looking at heater panels that are made for dog houses. They don't get hot enough to catch anything on fire and they are really only warm if you touch them. They always have access to food and water and don't care for much other than duck food, corn and peas.

 

[bclaflin]

Don't put feed and water in the houses....

But from what I've read by keeping food available at night can help them keep themselves warm...and if they have food they must have water...so that leads me to believe if they are already cold taking away food is not the answer...

 

[chickens really]

But from what I've read by keeping food available at night can help them keep themselves warm...and if they have food they must have water...so that leads me to believe if they are already cold taking away food is not the answer...

No, I'm in Alberta, Canada and never feed and water my Birds at night...They eat and Drink in the morning..

 

[MagpieDucks]

Water in those small houses will be a huge mess, and will freeze on the floor and make them colder. I would keep straw inside both house. It makes them a ton warmer if you put quite bit in there.