Cube Mark One Run

[wuckyduckspenno]

Hi all - would be great to hear from anyone with MSAs.

 

I think is was about -4C last night and my girls have not been that boisterous today. Thought one was limping but have put it down to the fact the ground is cold and she didn't like putting her feet down as she is much better now. It almost feels like they were in suspended animation for a lot of the day - lack of movement and no quacking at all. We are changing their water every couple of hours as it is freezing up quite quickly.

 

I want to put them in the garage tonight as it will be warmer there than outside but my hubby says I am being daft and that ducks are used to this - anyone out there have any rational ( ) response for me? Do I need to worry about them being outside in their Eglu in this cold spell as they are sp small? He won't let me have them in the house whatever anyone says!!!

 

many thanks

 

Wucky

[jayjay]

Hi Wucky

 

I was new to ducks last year and had the same worries about my 2 khakis. They were only 6 months when the winter hit. It got to -15 here and I was panicking. I bought a microwave petcosy thing for their house at night, had to crack 2" of ice off their pond every morning and the ground was frozen completely for weeks. I must admit, that on really bad days, I would let them into the conservatory to thaw their feet! They would just stand on the doormat looking relieved for 10 minutes then saunter off out. They were absolutely fine - they are very hardy wee things so don't worry too much.

No doubt you will think of little ways to treat them - it's hilarious what we do! The woman in the farm shop kept saying to me "but they're DUCKS" I know - but they are my ducks!

JJ

[wuckyduckspenno]

Thanks JayJay - the, 'but they're only ducks,' comment is what I get from my hubby regularly. I am awaiting delivery of my snugglesafe - hopefully tomorrow. It's been that cold here that the entire pond has frozen solid and their drinking water has frozen within half an hour of being refreshed.

 

Thanks for the peace of mind

 

Wucky

[maryann]

it must be a man thing my oh keeps saying they are only ducks but i cannot make him understand,

last night we got home late so it was dark it took me 3 hrs to get them off the pond and into the shed there was no way i was going to bed knowing they were outside in the freezing cold eventhough i have prob got pneumonia by now lol

[wuckyduckspenno]

Glad to see I am not the only one! OH did say, 'what would you be like if we had kids if you are like this with ducks?' my response is that children can talk but my girls need me as they can only quack or mup-mup!

 

I just have this fear of opening the Eglu door and them not coming out but glad to hear they are hardier than I imagined.

 

Many thanks

 

Wucky

[Blues08]

Extra chopped straw in the house in this weather. Mine are bored as they can't stick their beaks in the ground or dart about on the pond, I've put newspaper down in the kitchen and once they've been out for a feed and a walk about (in-between sit downs!!) they come back for a snooze in the kitchen.

 

Plenty of wheat/mixed corn on offer as it'll keep the cold out

 

Carl

[wuckyduckspenno]

Cheers, Carl.

 

The Snugglesafe arrived today so I am quite relieved and feeling happier about them being outside.

 

You're so right about the boredom - my girls just sit in the pond all day after we have removed the icy lid

 

So in this cold weather is it quite normal for them to only stand up for a minute or so and then keep sitting down? I was worried one of them was going lame on me?

 

Wucky

[Richard T]

Yes, they do a lot of sitting down in this weather. I think they're trying to keep their feet warm.

 

I do what Carl suggests and make sure they have mixed corn available.

 

When I went to check on them the other morning their "indoor" pond was frozen and one of them wanted to make sure I noticed:

 

 

[jayjay]

I had a real giggle with mine this morning. They have a habit of coming out of their run and taking flight down the garden to the burn and their wee pond. Bill took off this morning and did a splash landing as usual but when I looked over to see her there was a duck size hole in the ice on top of the pond - she was fine but I had to laugh!

It's -10 here so far tonight - snugglesafe ready for action!

JJ

[chicken bark]

Great photo Richard T

 

I feel a little guilty as my ducks have had no pond for the last 3 days as the ice was that frozen I couldn't break it. The hose and outside tap is also frozen so I wouldn't be able to fill it anyway. They are getting a fresh trug of water every day which seems to be the perfect size for one to sit in at a time.

 

 

Glad your ducks are warmer now Wucky.

[puddled duck]

Hi - I also have MSAs which are experiencing their 2nd winter. I have purchased a snugglesafe and they seem to love it, racing into their eglu when i have put it in - i use plenty of straw also and i tend to lock them in about 6pm cause otherwise they would sit on their water all night!! They do seem pretty fed up though and just stay on their water during the day but if they do venture out they seem to sit down to keep their legs warm so this is a common thing. As mentioned i do put mixed corn on the floor in their run which they are eating but they are not touching their pellets in bowl for the last 3 days? Does anyone think I should be concerned about this? Overall they seem to be pretty hardy although i do feel sorry for them cause I am sure they cant understand whats going on and why the grounds so hard!!

[wuckyduckspenno]

Hi all,

 

The last few posts have just made me nearly wet myself laughing, especially the duck sized hole in the ice The funniest thing my girls have done is splashed water on their ramp which has then frozen so when they climb out of the pond they slide down the ramp! There are non icy bricks there too but they seem to enjoy the slide

 

I love the photo - nice to see MSAs with a male - they look lovely together even when walking on water!!!

 

Thanks for the reassurance about them sitting all the time. I agree that they do seem to be bored in this weather with the ground too hard to dibble in and they soooo would sit on the water all night if I let them.

 

My girls will leave the pellets if I give them other things so what I tend to do is only give them treats once they have eaten enough pellets. If they are hungry they will get around to eating them but in this weather they get frozen quite quickly so I make sure their water is right by their food and change it for fresh if it starts freezing over to ensure they can mix it with their feed for ease of eating. This seems to be working plus I give them a mix of tomatoes/mealworms/cucumber(skin off - fussy girls ) late afternoon as a reward for eating the boring stuff!!

 

Thanks again all

 

Wucky x