Winter

[J99]

ok so besides what chickens need , what do I need to do or know about my ducks in the winter? My two runs will have snow in them since it has only fence roofs
I will wrap my coop some leaving ventilation, put more shavings inside and maybe hay in their sleeping boxes
Is that ok? Will their feet get frost bite ? And how do I stop that? Do I still give them their pool? And just break the ice off of it daily?

 

[DuckyDonna]

ok so besides what chickens need , what do I need to do or know about my ducks in the winter? My two runs will have snow in them since it has only fence roofs
I will wrap my coop some leaving ventilation, put more shavings inside and maybe hay in their sleeping boxes
Is that ok? Will their feet get frost bite ? And how do I stop that? Do I still give them their pool? And just break the ice off of it daily?

Don't put water in their pens at night. That will cut down on frostbite possibilities. Other than that what you are planning sounds good. I will put out a small kiddie pool on nice days but as long as they have a bucket where they can stick their heads in and clean out their nares they will be ok without swimming until you have a nice day. Then they can clean themselves, preen and feel good.

 

[DucksOhio]

If it gets below freezing, this bird bath heater is a great solution:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TZ745A/?tag=backy-20

Have had for 3 years, held up great.

 

[Jpat]

If it gets below freezing, this bird bath heater is a great solution:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TZ745A/?tag=backy-20

Have had for 3 years, held up great.

thats awesome exactly what i need

 

[chickens really]

All my runs have wire tops and I put tarps on top and use vapour barrier plastic on the sides to block out wind and snow. I use pine shavings and straw in my Duck house. I put straw down in one corner of my Run. In winter I water my Ducks twice a day because the water freezes. I use rubber livestock bowls.

 

[quackiemama]

If it gets below freezing, this bird bath heater is a great solution:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TZ745A/?tag=backy-20

Have had for 3 years, held up great.

I use something similar in our rubber tank. Ours is actually a horse trough de-icer with a thermal timed outlet so it kicks on when it reaches freezing temp and shuts off when it warms up to above freezing. I love it.

 

[Gerty0630]

ok so besides what chickens need , what do I need to do or know about my ducks in the winter? My two runs will have snow in them since it has only fence roofs
I will wrap my coop some leaving ventilation, put more shavings inside and maybe hay in their sleeping boxes
Is that ok? Will their feet get frost bite ? And how do I stop that? Do I still give them their pool? And just break the ice off of it daily?

I know many people say not to put waters in coops overnight but my ducks actually, for some reason, did not want to go outside really at all last winter so I kept a water in their coop 24/7. Just make sure you have ventilation so as to avoid frostbite/mold, etc. inside the coop. It gets very cold where I live so I VERY securely strapped up a heat lamp over the water so it did not freeze. Ducks don't need sleeping boxes (unless you know yours use them - then in that case scratch that haha) - they definitely need a thick layer of straw in their coop to maintain warmth overnight. Since my ducks were not interested in going outside the majority of the winter I did not have a pool for them. On "nicer" winter days I would put a small shallow bucket in their coop so they could at least dunk their heads in (even though they ended up squeezing their entire bodies in it )