Where should ducks sleep?

[bantymum]

Gidday everyone,
My 2 mallards are 6mths old and want to sleep outside under the trees with my bunnies, they are all freerange.
Do they tolerate the cold nights with frost? I keep thinking that I'm going to wake up and go outside and find 2 frozen ducks! They must know what they are doing and I like to keep things natural as far as habitat.
But gosh Ive made them a comfy hay carpet in an open boxed home and you would think they would want to sleep undercover., sometimes they sleep in their pond!
I guess the ducks in the wild sleep undercover,
When I go out the back at night the ducks come up and say Hi, "what.you.up.to?"then go back under the trees.We dont have any predators here otherwise I would force them into their house.
Where do your ducks sleep?
Where do your ducks sleep.

 

[eggchel]

Ducks are very tolerant of cold weather and are fine sleeping outside most of the year. I have never kept mine inside a building or any type, but I do lock them in a chain link kennel because we have raccoons.
You could just put out a dog house for them to go into if they want.





chel

 

[DuckLady]

I lock mine up in a pen with an attached barn/shed/room thing that has plenty of bedding. Of course they don't use it, but I know they are safe at night and if they choose to snuggle in the bedding, they can.

Now, Miss Matilda enjoys a warm bath and an evening lounging on her personal set of towels in her bathroom on cold nights.

 

[Critter Crazy]

My ducks sleep o the floor of my chicken coop, nesteled in straw. But Ducks are very tolerable of cold weather. Mine have slept all day long outside during snow storms. so dont fret. here is a couple of pics of my ducks sleeping in the snow!

 

[mlheran]

Quote:

Wow! I didn't realize they just plop down in the open like that! I've let my older ducklings stay out in their pen the past couple nights, and it seems like every time I went out to check on them (I couldn't help it!) they were in the water. And it was dark! And pretty cool too, like in the 50's (hey, that's cool in CA). But they seemed just fine first thing in the morning, so I was comforted a bit.

 

[bantymum]

Thankyou for your advice,
Chel what breed are your ducks, they look just like mine?yes, they do have a wonderful hay house which is the size of a kennel with no run just freestanding against the fence, but they dont want to go in, they did when I first got them until they found thei'r bearings in my yard.
Critter: those pics are so fantastic now Ill relax.

 

[bantymum]

As with sleeping in the pond, its very natural as I watched wild ducks here in the river and they were on the water paddling around in the dark!!!

 

[blondiebee181]

I have what I believe is a white campbell duck with my 4 hens. They are quite attatched and do just about everything together (except swimming). When the hens go to roost in the coop at night, Pearl usually just walks up to the door and sits next to the ramp, but I always usher her in when I go out to close the door. I'm not sure if she would like being left outside the door when it's closed and the chickens are inside. Anyway my real question is, the coop floor is welded wire with the pull-out poop drawer underneath. When they first started sleeping in the coop, they of course wanted to sleep in the nest boxes. I didn't want to have to change the bedding all the time so I strung wire across the entrance. It will be at least 2-3 more months before they will lay. Is it okay that Pearl is just sleeping on the wire bottom? It doesnt seem to bother her, however I could bed the corner with some straw or pine needles since we have so much of them. Whadda ya think?

 

[blondiebee181]

Anyone? Anyone?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Anyone? Anyone?

Of course give her some bedding she will love it.