Winter is coming

[gilbert2]

Dear Duck Lovers,
I have benefitted from your advice before, and once again am asking for help.
Soon it will be my Pekin's first winter. I live in Southern Colorado, so we get a good deal of snow and cold temperatures. While my duck has always had a "house" to live in at night (she wanders anywhere during the day), there is no protection from the cold at this time.
Can anyone tell me, please, what is the minimum temperature that this type of duck can comfortably take? I certainly don't mind rigging up some kind of heat source and protecting her from it. I just am totally ignorant of the desired minimum temp.
Any advice will be gratefully accepted.

 

[Amiga]

There are many many opinions about this. I have successfully kept my runner flock in good health (with a couple of exceptions due to egg yolk peritonitis) for four and a half years (that's my resumé

)

And my runners survived but did not thrive below 35˚F. Once I got them into a shelter that was closer to 40˚, their body condition, behavior and egg laying returned to normal. We have a flock of nine runners with one buff and a second flock of three buffs.

Since you have a single, please be sure to keep the duck warm enough.

I learned years ago that sometimes a statement will be made to the effect, "my ducks are fine in 20 degree weather." But what is not stated initially may be that there is free access to a barn that stays around 40˚F.