watering ducks

[farmgirl824]

my niece doesn't leave water for her ducks at night because they make a mess and I have told her she shouldn't leave them without water for that long, ( sometimes 15 hrs.) I have read on here 8 hrs with no food is fine, now that the nights are longer she's afraid to put them out to early because of predators. Does anyone have a solution that I can share with her as I think this is very cruel and I am afraid they will start dying once winter hits

 

[Callender Girl]

I understand about the mess, believe me. But I agree that they should not go that long without water. I use a heated dog dish inside the shelter, which has a hardware cloth floor under the section where the dish is so that the water that they splash will drain out. Maybe she can rig up some sort of drainage, like a cooling rack used for baking, setting over a sided-sheet pan or deeper baking dish, with the water dish on top?

 

[farmgirl824]

I like that idea, I'll pass it on to her. This is their first time with ducks and they have chickens too. My nephew didn't leave a drainage system and the duck hut has a concrete floor so he doesn't want to create a hole for drainage so I'm afraid the ducks are going to suffer for their decisions I have even offered to do the cleaning up for them to the eye roll and the ever they'll be fine. It's been several yrs since I raised any but I know how messy they get but that's what comes with having them. Thanks for your idea and hopefully they consider it.​