# Keeping Muscovy ducks in cold climates.



## PennDude (Jun 20, 2016)

I recently acquired two Muscovy ducks, one male and one female. I currently have them housed in a chicken tractor. They're 10 weeks old and I'll be keeping them for insect and slug control around my property. We have fairly cold winters here, down to -20 degrees at the coldest, with lots of snow. Will my Muscovy need to be kept inside of a coop for the entire winter? How do those of you from similar climates house your Muscovys over winter? I have plans in the works for a 4' X 8' chicken coop for a future flock of layers. This should be built by fall.


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## Alder (Aug 18, 2014)

Yes, they need to be inside in cold weather. I kept ducks here (N. Minnesota) for exactly one winter and never again, because they are almost impossible to keep dry. Give them any kind of water and they have a frozen, sloppy mess everywhere.

I like ducks, but not for cold winters. Best bet is to butcher in fall and start over in spring.


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## PennDude (Jun 20, 2016)

The water situation certainly is something to think about. I was thinking of using a deep bedding and a couple heat lamps in the coop. Spring is when I have most most severe slug and snail problems so I was hoping to keep them over winter.


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## saritamae (Jun 2, 2012)

I'm in Ohio and it doesn't get as cold here as it does for you, but we do get bitter cold temperatures that linger. Our ducks have a house with a small attached yard, separate from the fenced poultry yard. Since ducks are so horribly messy, I don't put food and water out in their house. I do put food and water out in the small yard in the evenings to get them in at night. Once they are in their small yard, it's easy to hard them into their house. (I have only had ducks a few years, but haven't ever gotten them to go in at night like chickens.) I usually let the birds out no matter what the weather because they really seem happier that way. They frequently "bathe" in the snow just like they would in water. I do keep them in when we have bad storms predicted so I don't have to go out and hunt anyone down in a snowstorm. I let them into their small yard so they can eat and drink and keep their bedding dry-ish. For water in winter I use the black rubber bowls you can find at feed stores. It gives the ducks enough room to splash if they want, but I can also flip them over and stomp the ice out without breaking the bowl. 

Just as a heads up - I learned that it is best to keep the ducks separate from the chickens unless you have a barn or larger coop. Where the ducks nest on the floor, and the chickens roost up higher, the poor ducks have gotten pooped on on more than one occasion lol. I love my muscovies. They have done wonders for fly control around here, and have great personalities.


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

We have muscovy ducks in virginia. It gets cold in the mountains with heavy snow. The muscovy is very hardy. Ours have a large pen with small fish pond in it. We use a water heater to keep all our water from freezing. We also drain and unhook all hoses so they won't be frozen the next day so we can refill everything. They rarely stay inside. Even on coldest snowy days they are out and about. We shovel a path and they do the rest. Have never lost any to cold. Plenty of straw in the house and they are good.


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## Moboiku (Mar 7, 2014)

I kept muscovies for 3 years in conditions not unlike your own. They lived in the chicken coop with my chickens and turkeys and had access to free-range. They had the option to sleep in the coop or outside. Inside, they would get up on the roosts with the chickens to sleep. Sometimes they chose to sleep outside and if they did, they either flew up to the top rail of our fence (4' or so) to sleep, or just sat on the ground. I don't "micro-manage" so whatever they decided was fine with me  (They were safe due to my dogs patrolling.)

As for water.....ultimately, that's the reason I no longer have them. In order to provide water in winter, I have to use heated dog water bowls. And, because our spigot freezes, I have to haul the water from the house in 1-gallon plastic milk jugs. 4x every day, I haul a couple of gallons down to the coop to refill heated water bowls. The chickens and turkeys sip neatly out of them leaving them clean. The ducks got IN the bowls to bathe, sloshing all the water out, where it would turn to ice for me to slip on at my next visit. As a bonus, they'd usually poop in the water.

After 3 winters, I'd had enough and sold them.

I did always think that if you could rig up some kind of panel over the top of the water bowl to allow them to drink but not get in it, that would be ideal. For awhile I did achieve something like that, but inevitably had to give it up as it caused problems of its own.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Make the shelter fit the ducks. Something like a dog house would be the right size for your ducks. Build the larger coop when you have enough birds to fill it. Straw for bedding is fine. It is absorbent and easy to change or add to. The droppings will ferment in the straw and produce heat, so during the winter just keep adding then pull it all out in the spring.


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## PennDude (Jun 20, 2016)

Lots of good advice here. I was thinking about using a heated poultry waterer placed inside of a larger basin, to catch the spilled water from the ducks. That way I can keep my bedding dry inside of the coop.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

They will need access to clean dry housing (IE, do NOT put a water source inside the coop). To encourage outside time for all your poultry, shovel an area outside the coop and keep feed and liquid water outside. Some even toss down waste hay or straw out there as a 'stoop'. The less poop inside, the cleaner it will stay and the healthier they will be. 

You will want to put the 'clean' drinking water source behind a fence that keeps the ducks from swimming in it. We used a bin with a plastic livestock de-icer in it, behind the 2"x4" welded wire and it worked great. 

Our winters can get that cold here in MI. Muscovies did excellently. I kept out a handful of cement mixing bins and filled them every day. Even on the coldest, the muscovies went for a swim. Ducks MUST be able to stay clean, and that includes bathing. If they become dirty, they will not be able to stay warm.


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## Solar Geek (Mar 14, 2014)

We too want Muscovies. We have a 1.75 acre pond that is aerated and open around those aerators, so they could swim all winter (altho maybe walking on the thin ice out to the aerated spots might not work?)
Central WI and same cold temps.


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