water for ducks in winter???

[Going Quackers]

Depends on the birds my calls do need water to swim in winter so i opt for small 3 GAL pans that i dump each night and refill several times daily. Frankly, my other larger mallard derived ducks would swim if i could do that for them too but my scovies will ice up so i opt to not keep swimming water out, they are neither mallard derived nor heavily waterproofed.

I still think those rubber livestock pans are the best, you can hammer the crud out of them and they easily hold water since they come in many sizes.

 

[sianara]

After spending several winters lugging many, many buckets of warm water up from my basement out to all my animals, I made a LOUD decision (to my husband

) I was going to make life easier for ME. I then had my plumber run an extra hot/cold water line in my basement over to the window closest to the animals housing (he was already here doing some other plumbing so the added cost wasn't too much more). Now in wintertime, all I do is open the basement window, feed the 40' hose outside, adjust all the valves to the coolest temp and spray away.

I have three pens of waterfowl and two of chickens. I use the warm water to not only spray down their houses 2-3x a week but also to clean/disinfect their pools and waterers outside instead of having to lug them all back and forth to the basement sink. They all have heated waterers and the waterfowl have small stock tank heaters for their pools.

I have five houses and 43 animals so it's a huge time savings and consequently we are all happy. I now enjoy the winter animal chores and I no longer worry about falling down on the ice/snow with full water buckets (been there, done that).

It's especially joyful for me when they are watching their clean pools fill up with warm, steamy water and they excitedly jump in before the pools full.

There's no way I would lug 200' of hose up and down the basement 3x a week but that also doesn't mean I shouldn't have animals. We all have our limits as to what we are willing/able to do and it doesn't make any of us more deserving of others to have animals IMHO.

 

[Going Quackers]

After spending several winters lugging many, many buckets of warm water up from my basement out to all my animals, I made a LOUD decision (to my husband

) I was going to make life easier for ME. I then had my plumber run an extra hot/cold water line in my basement over to the window closest to the animals housing (he was already here doing some other plumbing so the added cost wasn't too much more). Now in wintertime, all I do is open the basement window, feed the 40' hose outside, adjust all the valves to the coolest temp and spray away.

I have three pens of waterfowl and two of chickens. I use the warm water to not only spray down their houses 2-3x a week but also to clean/disinfect their pools and waterers outside instead of having to lug them all back and forth to the basement sink. They all have heated waterers and the waterfowl have small stock tank heaters for their pools.

I have five houses and 43 animals so it's a huge time savings and consequently we are all happy. I now enjoy the winter animal chores and I no longer worry about falling down on the ice/snow with full water buckets (been there, done that).

It's especially joyful for me when they are watching their clean pools fill up with warm, steamy water and they excitedly jump in before the pools full.

There's no way I would lug 200' of hose up and down the basement 3x a week but that also doesn't mean I shouldn't have animals. We all have our limits as to what we are willing/able to do and it doesn't make any of us more deserving of others to have animals IMHO.

Clever idea! i can if i absolutely wanted too run water off my front hall, i have laundry tub that you can put a hose up too. Now the trouble comes in the hoses aren't long enough, i need several hundred feet to get to everyone.. winter water is no easy task, we all have to come up with our methods to make it work.

 

[crazyfeathers]

My apologies if I offended, the thought of me dragging out 200 feet of house was totally directed towards me and no one else. Dragging out the hose is one of the easier things to do on my farm. It's odd how people interpret things. I am offended as well that someone thought I would speak negatively on BYC, aren't we all here to learn and help each other.

 

[crazyfeathers]

Wow, what I meant is if I can't do the extra work in the winter I shouldn't have animals. Did I specifically say anyone's name - I'm sorry if my post came across rude it was not intended to be because it was NOT directed towards anyone other than me. I find it sad that I even need to clarify this.

 

[LilyD]

Living in Vermont where the temps get way below freezing in the winter for a few months I unfortunately have to put their pool away for the winter and they have to make due with just some buckets of water to use. They will actually climb in the buckets and bath and I have caught them on more than one occasion taking a full bath in one of the water buckets. I use three in the duck coop and one in the chicken coop (since they only drink theirs). Total I have 10 total water buckets and I rotate them out several times a day as they freeze. I use three for my ducks, one for my chicken coop and one for my horse. I work nights so I go out once in the morning when I get home, once around noon when I wake up and again around dark and they get fresh water each time. I often do not have an outdoor spigot that is useable since it tends to freeze when it gets below 20 degrees (my husband is working on this) so instead I fill the buckets in the house and put them in a large high sided sled and drag them out to the coops and stall. It is messier and chores take longer than the other three seasons but I love having my critters around to keep my company so it's not too much work for me.

 

[Going Quackers]

They will most definitely climb in buckets lol one of my favourite pictures.. That was chocolate ripple, sadly lost her this summer.. in typical Muscovy fashion she went off to set a nest in the back fields, saw her for awhile and one day she was simply gone.

 

[donkeydew2farms]

this is what happens when they don't bathe in a week. the where so funny.i lost one of my pools any body know where I can get one it is a large kiddie pool.i have two geese now I need a bigger pool for them.

 

[Free Feather]

My ducks normally free range, but this week I had to keep them in for four days. When I let them back out into our stream, they were hilarious! I really hate keeping them in.

 

[veronicasmom]

donkeydew-try putting a wanted ad on CL. Someone might have one in a shed or garage and want to get rid of it. Also try Freecycle.org. Home Depot or Lowes has those plastic pond liners, maybe of those, they are large, pricey, but large.

LOVE your profile pic.