Ducks in Cold Weather

refilling the pond after February warm up

Our 4 ducks (3 call ducks and 1 khaki campbell) made it through the hardest part of the winter (so far) of 2018-2019. They have a nice coop that's insulated and is heated with a 1500 watt space heater that was able to maintain the indoor temperature in the 60s when it was -5F outside overnight with the doors closed. During the day with the door open, it was able to keep their water from freezing.

Prior to the winter, the ducks didn't spend a lot of time in their coop even in crappy weather like rain and sleet. During the coldest days, though, they finally figured out the coop is a refuge and enjoyed the straw bedding.

It seems like the ducks easily tolerate temperatures above 20F, and start to get annoyed at temperatures below 20F, and generally dislike single digit temperatures. They like to go outside, though, even in brutal cold, at least for a while. They dislike snow, though. Once it starts snowing, they'll generally go inside. On the coldest days they avoided the pond, but if the temperatures were 10F or above they'd go into the water.

We put straw down on top of the snow on the brutal cold days. Typically the ducks would stand or sit on straw on the coldest days.