Which breeds of ducks are more cold harder than other ducks?

[nao57]

I can't believe I never asked this before! Especially right now with lots of stuff going on, and with massive cold weather and talk about lack of sunspots affecting Earth cold growing. I should have thought of asking this before and think it has great potential for homesteaders and farmers to consider.

Which breeds of ducks have you observed to be more cold hardy than other duck breeds?

I do believe that ducks and 'waterfowl' have a better cold resistance advantage than chickens. This isn't surprising.

When you butcher them you can see how hard it is to get the feathers out of water fowl like ducks, etc. This is relevant.

But can some duck breeds be more resistant than others? What have you observed?

I get that it is harder to evaluate with a gut feeling, but I do believe people who care about their animals will notice more than people who don't.

Also, I am framing the question around the mallard breeds, because its already known that muscovies (which are wonderful!) aren't cold hardy, and that's already shown.

I feel excited to see what you all think! Isn't research and learning exciting!

The weather is weird now.

Usually in March its still a bit cold for us in the Southwest, but I think its colder now than it should be. And others have been saying that in other areas.

We'll see what happens.

To be clear I like chickens too. I'm not against chickens. But I am interested in all kinds of research for the betterment of living and having a better life and that's the point of this.

Thanks.

 

[Callender Girl]

All of my ducks are runners, so I have nothing for comparison. But, the weather here reached the double digits below zero for several days in a row last month.

My runners have a shelter, which is basically a giant, rectangular wooden-framed box, wrapped in hardware cloth and only one half of it is enclosed. There is no insulation, but I wrap a tarp around one end and have plywood panels to block the wind (with the accompanying wind chill, it reached into the minus-40 a couple of times). All 10 came through the polar weather unscathed.

And, I agree, the runners and the geese were much more "comfortable" during the frigid weather than any of my chickens -- who just refused to leave their coops. The ducks were out living it up in their run and the yard and would have climbed into their heated water dishes (a bad idea in my opinion when it's minus 22 degrees) if I hadn't blocked them.

It will be interesting to see others' experiences. Thanks for asking the question.

 

[Duckberry]

I am no expert, but Rouen ducks seem to be pretty cold tolerant. I have all Welsh Harlequins and one Rouen. We live in Maine, so winters are quite cold. The Rouen (Stevie) doesn't seem to mind the cold at all even when the day time temperatures are in the single digits. The Welshies will come out to eat and drink and spend the rest of the day huddled in the coop. Stevie will actually keep going in and out of the coop quacking at them, like come on, let's go play.

 

[3bird]

Like @Duckberry , we also live in Maine (although we are on the coast). We have silver Appleyards, and they do great in the cold and snow. I will add that there is some variation within a breed as to preference. For example, our girl Goosie really doesn't like the cold and it's quite obvious. She gets very frustrated with the rest of the flock sometimes when they all want to go out and swim when it's 14F and snowy. She just wants to stay in the duckhouse!

 

[Duckberry]

Like @Duckberry , we also live in Maine (although we are on the coast). We have silver Appleyards, and they do great in the cold and snow. I will add that there is some variation within a breed as to preference. For example, our girl Goosie really doesn't like the cold and it's quite obvious. She gets very frustrated with the rest of the flock sometimes when they all want to go out and swim when it's 14F and snowy. She just wants to stay in the duckhouse!

I love this! They don't seem to mind the cold at all. Their little webbed footprints in the snow are so cute.

I will also say that the Welsh Harlequins are fine as long as it's over 20 degrees outside during the day. So depending on where you live, they could also be a good option. Although with the crazy weather this past year, it could be freezing cold anywhere.

We have an insulated coop and use the Cozy Products Flat Panel Coop Heater. But we only use it on really cold nights. I love it because it uses radiant heat, so it won't catch on fire even if it's sitting on their bedding. Although, the legs break pretty easily, so once they knocked it over. But it didn't catch on fire then either! I superglued the leg, so it's fine now. Coop Heater- Chewy.com

 

[Duckberry]

To be clear I like chickens too. I'm not against chickens. But I am interested in all kinds of research for the betterment of living and having a better life and that's the point of this.

And duck eggs are delicious and have more protein and B12 than chicken eggs. Although they also have more fat and cholesterol. So there's that.

 

[3bird]

I love this! They don't seem to mind the cold at all. Their little webbed footprints in the snow are so cute.

I will also say that the Welsh Harlequins are fine as long as it's over 20 degrees outside during the day. So depending on where you live, they could also be a good option. Although with the crazy weather this past year, it could be freezing cold anywhere.

We have an insulated coop and use the Cozy Products Flat Panel Coop Heater. But we only use it on really cold nights. I love it because it uses radiant heat, so it won't catch on fire even if it's sitting on their bedding. Although, the legs break pretty easily, so once they knocked it over. But it didn't catch on fire then either! I superglued the leg, so it's fine now. Coop Heater- Chewy.com

Our duckhouse is not insulated (although we left that option open). We use a Sweeter Heater, and it has all the benefits you mention, but it is also bombproof.

We wrap the run with 6mm plastic on three sides, and they have 24/7 access to it 99% of the time. We let them free range supervised 2x/day, and they will go out as long as it's not to windy and cold. Often they want to swim. A couple weeks ago, however, they had a good week where they would just come out, eat their soup and then head back in.

Here's another snowy duck adventure from this winter:

 

[threebrookscorner]

Another one from Maine, up north this time. We have pekins, silver appleyards, anconas and rouens. With proper care and precautions they all handle our winters with no problems.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

We just went through a -30 with -40+ wind chills and all of my ducks carried through. I have Runners, Rouens, Mallards and Hookbills. However, I think overall most of a duck's "hardiness" has to do with that duck's individual genetics. I have birds that could seemingly go through hell and back unscathed and then I have others who seem to take a little more care to maintain 100% health. For example most of Hookbills are the hardiest birds you could ask for, but I have one Hookbills who is just...well extra special...she was an assisted hatch and as terrible as it sounds I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't of just let mother nature take it's course with her. If she can find something dangerous to get into she WILL find it. I have to baby proof everything just for her I'm talking her somehow managing to get a weed wrapped around her neck that was choking her which I don't even know how that's possible? She alone has had troubles with bumblefoot, she purposefully picked up and flew out of the fenced yard where the other ducks were and over into the dogs fenced yard when the dogs were in it(I now make sure her wings are clipped on schedule and the new duck yard we are building is really an aviary with netting above along with the hardware cloth sides), she HATED the cold while the others just wanted to play in the snow. If she doesn't like something she will act like she is dying...im not even joking she will flail around. For example with her bumble foot I had to wrap her feet to which she responded by flailing and flopping. I thought I somehow wrapped them too tightly even though I was taught by a vet how to wrap and have been doing so with no problems for years. Anyways, I pulled the bandages off to which she immediately acted normal and in my mind if her circulation was cut off that badly she would have needed a minute or two at least to regain her footing and get the blood pumping again. I was now very suspicious so I very loosely wrapped her feet so the bandages were on just enough to stay put for 5 minutes or so (I'm talking a single layer of wrap barely hanging on) She again started flailing and flopping acting like she was dying. Even when the bandages fell of she kept going until she realized they were off then got up and walked away just fine. I never thought I would ever describe a duck as dramatic, but she is a complete drama queen! She also wanders off by herself from the rest of the flock whenever possible and she lays very large ROUND eggs...yes round...sometimes they will have a little pointy barely there tip, but otherwise very round. Long story short her eggs are not collected for hatching and she gets put with my table egg laying ducks when it's hatching season lol I DO NOT need another "Yellow" as my kids call her in my flock Here's a picture of one of her eggs next to one of my other Hookbill's egg for comparison haha

Edit: I ended up finding neoprene boots made for ducks that I used on her feet instead of bandages. They were a lifesaver and made healing up her bumble foot so much easier. I found them here if anyone else has been looking for duck boots https://crazy-k-farm.myshopify.com/products/birdy-bootie-hand-made-in-the-usa

 

[DucksAreBest]

We just went through a -30 with -40+ wind chills and all of my ducks carried through. I have Runners, Rouens, Mallards and Hookbills. However, I think overall most of a duck's "hardiness" has to do with that duck's individual genetics. I have birds that could seemingly go through hell and back unscathed and then I have others who seem to take a little more care to maintain 100% health. For example most of Hookbills are the hardiest birds you could ask for, but I have one Hookbills who is just...well extra special...she was an assisted hatch and as terrible as it sounds I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't of just let mother nature take it's course with her. If she can find something dangerous to get into she WILL find it. I have to baby proof everything just for her I'm talking her somehow managing to get a weed wrapped around her neck that was choking her which I don't even know how that's possible? She alone has had troubles with bumblefoot, she purposefully picked up and flew out of the fenced yard where the other ducks were and over into the dogs fenced yard when the dogs were in it(I now make sure her wings are clipped on schedule and the new duck yard we are building is really an aviary with netting above along with the hardware cloth sides), she HATED the cold while the others just wanted to play in the snow. If she doesn't like something she will act like she is dying...im not even joking she will flail around. For example with her bumble foot I had to wrap her feet to which she responded by flailing and flopping. I thought I somehow wrapped them too tightly even though I was taught by a vet how to wrap and have been doing so with no problems for years. Anyways, I pulled the bandages off to which she immediately acted normal and in my mind if her circulation was cut off that badly she would have needed a minute or two at least to regain her footing and get the blood pumping again. I was now very suspicious so I very loosely wrapped her feet so the bandages were on just enough to stay put for 5 minutes or so (I'm talking a single layer of wrap barely hanging on) She again started flailing and flopping acting like she was dying. Even when the bandages fell of she kept going until she realized they were off then got up and walked away just fine. I never thought I would ever describe a duck as dramatic, but she is a complete drama queen! She also wanders off by herself from the rest of the flock whenever possible and she lays very large ROUND eggs...yes round...sometimes they will have a little pointy barely there tip, but otherwise very round. Long story short her eggs are not collected for hatching and she gets put with my table egg laying ducks when it's hatching season lol I DO NOT need another "Yellow" as my kids call her in my flock Here's a picture of one of her eggs next to one of my other Hookbill's egg for comparison haha

What a duck!
Where did you buy the Hookbills?