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Winter winds are howling and a good old fashioned New England nor’easter is knocking on the door. Most residents are rushing to the grocery store to stock up on batteries, bread and supplies for their family. Farmers have an additional concern weighing on their mind – how can I keep my animals comfortable in the extreme cold? Luckily, with a little preparation, ducks are super cold hardy animals. Even when temperatures dip into the single digits for a prolonged time, your ducks will be just fine with a little help from you.
Winter Time Duck Care
Natural protection – Ducks come equipped with some God given gifts for weathering harsh weather. They have a double layer of slick, water proof feathers on top of a thick layer of warm insulating downy feathers. Under all that fluff is a warm, fatty body with an average body temperature around 106-108 degrees F.
They don’t have fleshy, frostbite prone wattles & combs like chickens. The only exposed “skin” ducks have is on their feet. Duck feet have a special counter current blood system. Ducks (and some other birds) have a unique alignment of blood vessels, with veins and arteries lying next to each other & lace like capillaries that weave among them. Warm blood comes down the legs from the body and meets the cool blood coming from the feet. Heat is exchanged in these special capillaries.
This preserves a core temperature in the feet which can be just above freezing. Just enough to keep the blood moving to feed the tissues. It also means that cooled blood is not making it’s way back into the body, which could lower their core body temperature. They are also able to tuck their feet up into their warm bellies to warm them. Ducks really are an ideal cold weather farm animal!
Does this mean you don’t need to do anything special for your ducks in the winter? Maybe – depending on your climate. If temperatures dip below freezing or stay for extended periods below 20 degrees F, your ducks will appreciate a little help from you.
Water
Water is obviously the most important consideration for ducks in the winter. Ducks need access to liquid, unfrozen water to digest their food, and to clear their sinuses & eyes to keep them healthy. If you have access to electricity, the easiest way to keep their water unfrozen is to have a heated dog bowl. Change the water at least daily to keep it clean. Most bowls are equipped with a thermostat that will kick in when the temperatures dip below freezing.
I would suggest keeping the water outside of the coop. If you put it inside, they will spend the night splashing about making a mess. Outside of the bowl, the water will freeze, lower the temp in the coop and increasing the moisture and risk of frostbite.
Remember ducks should not be given access to food without water so they will not choke, so if they don’t have access to water overnight, they should also not have access to food.
While ducks do love to swim, it isn’t really necessary to provide swimming water. It can be difficult to maintain a swimming pool for them in freezing temperatures, so I usually settle for pulling out the pool every once in a while on the rare, sunny, “warmish” winter days.
Food
Quality layer pellets should make up the majority of their diet, just like it does the rest of the year. With the short winter days and to conserve energy, you will likely notice a decrease in egg production, but the nutritional needs are still there.
In the winter, I like to also offer scratch grains in the evenings before bed. The ducks love this little treat, and the grains take longer to digest, upping their body temperature during the night when it’s coldest.
Other good winter treats are protein rich meal worms, fresh greens like lettuce, kale or wheat grass (greens are so hard to find foraging in winter. Click here to learn how to grow your own wheat grass), warm plain oatmeal, or warm fermented feed (click here to learn how to ferment feed).
Shelter
Ducks are slow on land and predators are always on the prowl for a meal in the winter when pray can be scarce. It is important to provide a safe, predator proof shelter for your birds at night. This can be in a totally enclosed coop or a three sided shelter inside a secure run.
Ducks like to nest on the ground. Providing them a secure place where they can escape the wind with plenty of straw to arrange a cozy nest will make them quite happy. Bales of hay or straw can act as great insulators and draft blockers by stacking them outside the walls of the coop (or lining the walls inside if you have space).
While their feet *can* withstand standing on the frozen ground they will be much more comfortable if you lay down a layer of straw for them to walk on in the run (refresh a few times during the winter). During the day, they will likely still enjoy roaming the yard, even when it’s covered with snow. They will have a grand time digging their heads into it, “shoveling” it with their bills and “floating” on it (sitting in the snow with their feet pulled into their body).
But even during the day, make sure they have somewhere they can escape to if the winds are howling. I do not recommend adding heat lamps to the coop. They are unnecessary and with all the dry bedding and erratic movements of birds there is a real risk of fire. The fire could endanger not only the life of your flock but it could spread to your home or neighbor’s home endangering human lives. It’s just not worth the risk involved!
Definitely great tips here. Thank You. I live in Northern NY, so of course, we get that nasty Arctic Blast. That -30 wind chill is no joke.
Thank you so much! My ducks hang under the chicken coop and refuse to go IN it at night so we have put chicken wire around 3 sides of that area with the chain link run along the 4th side. We plan on putting wood around those 3 sides when the weather turns cold (we are in Concord NH). My husband thinks this will be enough? I LOVE my ducks and don’t want to endanger them with my lack of education.
Hi Sarah, our ducks sleep outside under the chicken coop pretty much all year round. Every once in awhile they will go inside the duck house (there is no door so they can come and go, but they pretty much always choose to sleep outside in the run). We have wood on three sides of the under the coop area, it blocks the wind and snow in the winter and they have done just fine with this! Just make sure the area is secure from predators, especially in the winter predators can get crafty with less food around
Great tips! I plan to read many more postings as I am new to owning ducks. I have 4 males and 6 females. Would you say I have too many males?
I live in Northern Canada where our winters can range from -20 to -50 degrees Celcius. So very cold! Would you recommend a heat lamp at those temperatures?
Do you have any tips on how to get your ducks inside at night? My ducks are not very tame yet.
Any feedback is appreciated!
Hi Carlee – welcome to the fun of keeping ducks! Its best to have at least a few females per every male, but it really depends on your drakes’ temperaments. Right now I have 3 males and 6 females and they do fine. The males get along and seems to have enough females to keep them “busy” during spring & summer mating seasons.
Brrrrrr!! That is super cold!! Heat lamps can be quite dangerous so they aren’t really something I ever recommend unless it’s something you are around to monitor (which is unlikely unless the ducks are living in your house!). I would recommend you have a sturdy shelter they can retreat to. Get them in the habit of being locked in their house at night now so they will be ready in the winter. The shelter will help block winds and snow, but be sure there is plenty of ventilation. Ducks are always so moist and their breathing and poop gives off a lot of moisture. You need to provide ventilation for that moisture to escape or they will be open to frostbit and lung issues. Just put the ventilation up high so it isn’t creating drafts on them as they sleep. Give them plenty of warm, clean straw to snuggle into.
When it gets to be around dusk, your ducks will likely be looking for somewhere to bunk down for the night. Give them some incentive to make their place their duck run & house by providing some of their favorite treats. I always use mealworms, by birds will do literally anything for mealworms lol. Put a pile of the treats in their run/house and herd them into there. Do this for several nights and they should get the hang of it. My ducks automatically go to their run at dusk now, no treats required. 🙂
I have been keeping ducks for over 30 years. I remember at the start how hard it was to get good advice on how best to look after them. Especially the type of thorough and considered advice you offery. Newcomers have it relatively easy now – as long as you keep up the good work.
Thank you so much! I was a young adult when the internet really started coming into it’s own, so I certainly remember the struggles lol. I can’t imagine how we lived without the wealth of information available now!
Hello Liz – I enjoy your website! You do a great job providing information for the duck owners of the world.
I have raised ducks for several years and have a very unique situation with my last group I’ve never experienced in the past. There are 14 in my latest group.
Usually, the ducks I raise don’t make it past the 6 month mark, due to wildlife, turtles, dogs, etc. But with this group, I’m happy to say all 14 of them are alive and doing well (physically) after being hatched June 1 2020.
Here’s the reason I’m writing – None of my ducks will get in the 3-acre pond available to them. It’s actually in my back yard, and they eat, drink and play all day – everyday – right next to the pond. Regardless of the methods I’ve tried, they REFUSE to get in the pond.
On the very few occasions I have managed to get them in the pond, they jump out and run as fast as they can – away from the water!
I’ve seen them all run jump IN the water to get away from dogs chasing them…only to run OUT of the water the second danger is gone. It’s the craziest thing (duck thing) I’ve ever seen.
I was hoping you may be able to shed some light on this bizarre behavior, or maybe point me to someone that could.
During these 6 past months, they are now ruining my yard. All the grass is dead (before Fall), and my backyard is now basically a mud paying field.
Any light you could lend on the subject would be welcomed. As you might imagine, I’m getting quit anxious to get these guys in the water…for their sake and mine!
Thanks again,
Kenneth
Hi Ken, are these ducks a different breed from the ones you usually raise? Many domestic duck breeds enjoy swimming but generally spend more of their life on land, wild breeds generally spend most of their life on the water. If the breed you have now is predisposed to living on land, there isn’t much you can do to change their minds. You can put up some simple wire fencing to keep them from parts of your yard if you like. My other thought is maybe something spooked them in the pond – maybe a turtle or other predator. If that is the case they could just need time to remember how fun swimming is. To encourage them to spend more time by the pond I would move things like their shelter and food close to the shore of the pond if they aren’t already. Try tossing things like cheerios into the pond, they love them and they will float on the water, hopefully encouraging them to spend more time there. Good luck!
Hello Liz – Thanks so much for your feedback. I’ve been trying to find your response for a while now, but thankfully I saved the link from the question I sent you.
Anyway – just to clarify a couple of things. The breeds I have are all normal pond ducks I’ve raised in the past. Specifically, they are Blue Swedish and Cayuga ducks.
After all this time, they still refuse to get in the pond. They sleep right next to it during the daytime, and watch some of the guess jump in and go off for the day.
To me, the craziest thing – they love love love to get in the water. Every time it rains, they all try to squeeze in any type of little puddle that may form in my yard.
When I give them their water, which is in a huge bowl, they try to see how many can try to get in and try to swim (if you can imagine). It can probably hold 2 at most.. just to stand. Definitely not big enough to play and dunk and clean in their drinking bowl!
I continue to feed them by the pond, and I took their small kiddie pool away a couple of months ago. But still no go.
I’m going to try the cheerios route. I even thought about placing a couple of plastic decoy ducks near the bank where they could see them 24/7.
Do you have any other thoughts / ideas things I could try. Have you ever heard of anyone else having this type of problem?
It just boggles my mind… Especially knowing they get in to run from danger, only to run out soon as they can. It’s like they don’t stop long enough to think – “Oh, this is like a really really big kiddy pool all the other waterfowl play around in all day…Let’s check it out”.
I certainly appreciate any feedback you can provide!
Kenneth
It is certainly strange that they are all so keen to play in other sources of water. My ducks would flip out if they had a pond to swim in lol. I have had people message me in the past that young ducks didn’t want to go in their farm ponds. It usually seems to sort itself out in time. Hopefully it will be the same with this group. Ducks are flock animals, they are always going to stick close to each other. If you can convince the flock leader swimming in the pond is fun, the rest should all follow suit. The duck decoys are a great idea!
Hi Liz, I also live in New England and I have pet ducks and chickens that like to go roam around outside their enclosure for an hour or so every day. With the ice that we had yesterday and the snow that is coming, I am wondering if we can use pet friendly ice melt on our walkways? Will it hurt the ducks or chickens at all?
Love your blog!!
Hi Penny! Thank you! you definitely want to avoid using traditional deicer or “rock salt” because that is toxic to poultry. Pet safe deicers are usually made from Magnesium Chloride which is much less toxic and could be ok as long as they have access to plenty of liquid water to flush it from their system. The best option is to use sand in areas the poultry go, it doesn’t melt ice the way a deicer would but it does help with traction
Thanks for the tips Liz!!