Winter tips for ducks?

[dadaas]

I hope they survive, because i cant give them shelter nor predator protection. I already lost 2 ducks against predators. I gave them 100x100 meter yard for them self and they better find a proper shelter by they own.

 

[Amiga]

I hope they survive, because i cant give them shelter nor predator protection. I already lost 2 ducks against predators. I gave them 100x100 meter yard for them self and they better find a proper shelter by they own.

You need to rehome them right away. Looks like you did not understand domestic ducks.

There is a free rehoming forum on BYC. Please let someone who can manage them take them in.

They won't survive.

 

[pattyhen]

I've had ducks for years and I have never had one to build their own coop. That is up to you to provide them protection. You have already lost 2 to a predator. They will be back to get your remaining ducks. Please find them another home with someone who can provide them with a coop.

 

[gilbert2]

I made the investment in an electrically heated water bowl. It is 100% safe; all wiring has been molded onto the rubber of the bowl. As for the cord, it has a strong spring/wire wrapped around it. I need to use an extension cord, so after plugging the thing in, I always keep the plugs above ground, so snow can't bury them and seep into the connection. This item was a bit pricey--about $30.00, but it will last for years, so I feel it is worth the expense.
My ducks all eat "duck food"--crumbles made mostly from corn. It comes in 40-pound bags for about $18.00/bag. I sometimes give them treats--usually thawed out frozen peas, which is crack for ducks!
They live in a duck house at night--a completely covered wooden home with one open doorway. They all huddle together. I can't believe how tough they are! Really, with shelter, I don't worry about them freezing, since they have shown me how happy they can be in Colorado in wintertime.

 

[gilbert2]

Excuse me, Dadaas--I did not state the obvious. If you want to have ducks, you MUST provide for them. That's just how it is. Your choices are: build a sheltered area for them to live (protected from predators and cold) while feeding, watering, and cleaning up after them.......or you can find a home for them where they will be cared for.........or you can keep doing what you're doing now, and wait for the predators to pick them off. It WILL happen.

 

[Cherib603]

99.9% of the duck owners here are amazingly WONDERFUL, hard working, deeply caring folks who do their absolute best for their birds. But I've seen too many posts here recently basically asking us to tell folks it's perfectly alright for them to do ZIP, ZERO, NADA to properly feed and protect their ducks. It's very frustrating.

If you can't or won't do what is NECESSARY to keep your ducks happy (providing proper space, socialization and enrichment), healthy (proper body maintenance, access to veterinary care, clean living conditions), fed (healthy feed) and protected (SECURE, properly sized and maintained coops, runs and pastures), then DON'T OWN DUCKS!!!

And you can't use the excuse "Well, they just showed up here, were dumped here etc, so I don't OWN them!" Because once you decide to feed them and let them stay on your property, they come to RELY on you and you are officially responsible for them.

If you don't have the desire or ability to care for ducks - or ANY animal - find them another home, call the SPCA or animal control. But don't just leave them at the mercy of predators and the elements.

End of rant - time for about a gallon of coffee.

 

[Amiga]

I made the investment in an electrically heated water bowl. It is 100% safe; all wiring has been molded onto the rubber of the bowl. As for the cord, it has a strong spring/wire wrapped around it. I need to use an extension cord, so after plugging the thing in, I always keep the plugs above ground, so snow can't bury them and seep into the connection. This item was a bit pricey--about $30.00, but it will last for years, so I feel it is worth the expense.
My ducks all eat "duck food"--crumbles made mostly from corn. It comes in 40-pound bags for about $18.00/bag. I sometimes give them treats--usually thawed out frozen peas, which is crack for ducks!
They live in a duck house at night--a completely covered wooden home with one open doorway. They all huddle together. I can't believe how tough they are! Really, with shelter, I don't worry about them freezing, since they have shown me how happy they can be in Colorado in wintertime.

So, for future readers, gilbert2, what breed are these (so we guess their weight and size), and how many? So good when you get the management right! Thanks! and If you already mentioned this, forgive me

 

[gilbert2]

Sorry, Amiga--I forgot the important detail. I have one Rouen drake, two Rouen ducks, and one Pekin duck--although strangely, starting last week, one of her tail feathers has really curled upwards!! I am sure it is just a temporary thing, since her tail has been female looking since she was a hatchling last April. I hope I'm right!
As a post script, I might add that the Rouen drake, normally so colorful, has molted into a drab guy. His normally "metallic" green head feathers have gone almost black (and dull), and even the bright violet wing feathers (that you can see when they are folded up--as a little diamond shape) are again a dull dark color, almost black. Strange.

 

[purslanegarden]

Strangely, when I was a kid, I had chickens and ducks in my back yard. They would find their own sleeping place each night. The chickens liked to jump up to the mimosa tree, which had some perfectly large branches in a good formation that even I could sit up there. The ducks would sleep where they wanted at night, too. I locked up my quail, but mainly because they could get away from the yard, not because I was thinking of predator protection.

Only years later, as an adult, when I began my next flock and experienced a few predator killings as well as tell-tale signs of predators in my yard at night, did I wonder at the amazement of how these birds were able to live free-range in day and night time for so many years when I was a kid.

I would say that's the exception, as well as partially being a kid who had no access to all the learning available on the internet now, and any person who wants to have chickens, ducks, or other poultry birds as pets, should do their best to provide food and protection for them. Free-range in a small area is not the same as being able to go anywhere they want, so the owners still need to supplement with other food matter, and living in a small area without the ability to escape it, is even worse if a predator gets in.