Winter Care Q for ducks in a cold climate

[MilburnCreek]

Hello all, I am a homesteader who is not new to farming (raise several dozen chickens here), and I am looking to start with Cayuga ducks this spring. We have a 1/4 acre pond and plan to anchor a floating duck house in the middle for them, and have plenty of forage area for them. We get rough winters, though (Vermont), so we were thinking of moving the floating duck house to the side of the pond for easy human access during the winter. But with weeks of sub-freezing temps and lots of snow in winter, I'm wondering how to keep the ducks supplied with food and water. Daily commercial grain, and daily warm water in a kiddie pool or something?

 

[wilwingswaterfowl]

Hello all, I am a homesteader who is not new to farming (raise several dozen chickens here), and I am looking to start with Cayuga ducks this spring. We have a 1/4 acre pond and plan to anchor a floating duck house in the middle for them, and have plenty of forage area for them. We get rough winters, though (Vermont), so we were thinking of moving the floating duck house to the side of the pond for easy human access during the winter. But with weeks of sub-freezing temps and lots of snow in winter, I'm wondering how to keep the ducks supplied with food and water. Daily commercial grain, and daily warm water in a kiddie pool or something?

I use rubber water bowls refilled 2 or 3 times a day for my Khaki Campbells. My wild ducks have a heated pool using a stock tank heater.