Winterizing

[rtj18175]

We have two ducks among our chickens. While the chickens have a place above the ducks, how should we winterize the ducks coop? We put a floor in it and added straw. they will have a hanging feeder and hanging waterer. Do they go out in the winter? We live in northern Wyoming. Is there anything we need to know about keeping ducks healthy in the winter? Do they need minimum heat? Any information will be very useful to us!

 

[Kiki to Nana]

I used insulation on the bottom of the coop. I kept a heat lamp for my own personal comfort if they were old they would be okay. However due to fire risks and the fact they can be fine up to - 20F or something like that I I probably won't use it this year.

The way ventilation of the coop is set up would be important to help prevent any frostbite. Other than that I'm pretty sure they can survive anything thrown at them. Our went out during the snow, not much fun for them until it melts then the puddles are good.

We would just toss them a head of cabbage to pick at for the day.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Give them a draft free house with good ventilation around the top to let out moisture and they should be fine over winter. They will need a bucket to be able to dunk their heads to keep their nares and eyes clean heated ones work good here. My chickens use them too. Ducks are extremely messy so you may not want to put water inside their house.

A good layer of bedding so they can snuggle down into it Shavings is great because it's a lot easier to clean out the wet poop.

 

[nao57]

So in winter you will have to clean out the poop?

How do you do that?

In normal situations I can understand that. But its so wet. And so messy. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how you do that in winter?

And do you do the shavings deeper than normal then in winter? How many inches thick?

 

[DuckyDonna]

Yes, you sure do have to clean out the poop or it is really bad for the ducks but you can do the "deep litter" method which is what most people do. @Miss Lydia can explain it better than I can.

I use hay mostly because it's free for me. I realize it's not the ideal bedding but I make sure it is cleaned out every single morning. The way I clean the hay is to use a garden fork and just put the tines right under the poop which is mostly flattened out by their webbed feet so it's pretty easy to get just the poopy part and I just toss it into the run until the grass starts to grow. In the summer when the grass is growing I just make a pile of it in the run and turn it every day. The ducks LOVE that. Lots of good bugs and worms come out when I turn the pile and they go crazy for it.