Winter Storm... help!

[Crazy_Beautiful]

I'm in Southern Ontario. We are all getting a storm and preparing for a cold snap but I'm hoping I can get some feedback.



I have one insulated coop so no worries there ... other than should I allow my ducks to sleep in the coop tonight and onwards into the weekend Or will they be ok in their plastic wrap run and doghouse? They've never slept inside before. And if inside do I leave the hatch door to their run open or closed?

My second coop is just made of barn boards no insulation... should I add in heat for the cold snap? Last year this coop had issues with frostbite but I've since learned it was from lack of ventilation.

 

[Callender Girl]

The crazy winter storm has been ongoing here, too. At first, I let my ducks and geese outside. By yesterday, we were under blizzard warning and wind chill warning, I kept everyone inside.

The runner ducks live in a hardware-cloth wrapped, converted chicken tractor. In the winter, I attach a heavy-duty tarp over half the shelter so they have some protection from the wind and, ideally, from the snow. But with 40-mph gusts, it has been impossible to keep all the snow out.

Ditto for the geese, who have an uninsulated shelter, similar to a doghouse, and for the chicken coops. No chicken wants to venture out, even though snow has blown into the coops through the ventilation spaces. None of my coops has heat.

Today, it is supposed to get above 0 degrees F, and the winds should die down. I will go out and scoop out all the snow, add more clean, dry bedding and pray that we really will get above freezing in a few days.

Best of luck with your birds.

 

[Miss Lydia]

We are frigid also and I said I'd never put food and water back inside for my ducks I did yesterday the poor things were hardly moving outside at 4 with wind chills 25-30 below so I finally herded everyone inside around 3:30 pm. No telling what I'll find inside this morning with the mess my Runners can make but they needed help. I will leave the pop door open today and they can come out if they want too. I don't think many will at -2 and that isn't factoring in the wind.
So I think we have to do what we think is best for our birds, watch them to make sure they are suffering and if they are then it's inside. We're suppose to be back to 20's for lows starting Monday night so thankful to see those temps again. lol

 

[telandra2]

We are up to a calm 15f from -6 (w/o windchill) and after 2 days of being locked in the birds won't leave the coop. But they are all alive and well, and one small goose managed to cram herself into the warm water bucket yesterday.

8 Ancona ducks and 10 Afican/Chinese geese spent the time in an uninsulated garage adjoining coop with straw on top of shavings. The indoor thermometer read 25.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My Muscovy was the worst for using their heated buckets a hot tubs so I put a scrap piece of wood over the middle of the bucket so they can dunk their heads but not their whole bodies.

 

[Crazy_Beautiful]

Thank you all. I lost ability to respond to the post for some reason. Surprisingly we didn't get the weather that the news said we would. We did have some damage to our plastic covering the runs but other than that everything was OK.