Advice needed for winter freeze( ! Situation specific question ! )

[BlueSwedish42]

Hello, I have browsed this site before and it seems like many people with experience are here, I have found helpful advice just from reading posts that address my issues, but this time I have a specific situation w/ our ducks that I need some duck lovers w/ more exp to give me their advice on. May be a little long but please read and advise:

Background:

My son was gifted two ducklings as a surprise to both of us this Spring(March) and we raised them as best we could w/ lil experience & preparedness(I didn't have the means for a super professional setup to keep them in). We absolutely love them and they reached adulthood w/ no serious issues.
[Until they reached a certain age they were inside overnight in a small pen, during the next phase I brought them in overnight but let them out onto the lake w/ a morning feeding{other feedings through the day as well} and would Kayak out to bring them in once the sun was setting, and eventually they seemed grown and adjusted enough to let them live on the lake 24/7{they come up to our shore for feedings but we rarely handle and we never bring them inside}]

They kind of live a half domesticated-half wild lifestyle but they are very well taken care of. They have bonded with other ducks in the area, there is a white Peking Duck(neighbors introduced to the lake b4 we had ours) that the male of our pair(Kennedy, Blue Swedish) seems to have paired w. One of the fully wild Mallards that flew in with the summer pack has paired with our female(Ashe, not sure of species{half something-half BlueSwedish?}}, to the point that the rest of the wild pack has migrated away but he stayed here despite the lake freezing over.

So as of now it is a pack of 4 living on the lake together, our 2 and their partners.

And now my issue:

I was worried about their 1st winter and did research on the hardiness of Blue Swedish and landed on building them a covered shelter w/ straw bale insulation near their feeding spot and letting them stay outdoors for winter.
Fed them overtime as winter approached to let them build up a winter layer.

I've considered the idea of bringing them inside the house overnight again when the temps got super low but I am worried that ripping them away from their bonded mates overnight might wind up causing more damage in the long run if they lose their bond with their pack, or the 2 that I don't bring in get so stressed the get hurt or leave. During the transition into this half wild living arrangement Kennedy & Ashe slowly grew more averse to the idea of being picked up at all by us, which I was actually happy to see as I don't want them too comfortable with any human walking up to them anyway. Ashe will call back to me from across the lake and head right over to get fed, but other than that I am happy to see them keeping their guard up.

The lake began to freeze, but they seemed to be fine at first; I would take food out to the shore near the edge of the frozen part and they seemed happy and healthy.
Then the whole lake froze but at the moment they have a good sized hole that they are keeping unfrozen swimming around in it. Did more research at that point and found that some ducks can do that and survive the winter that way; so I let that go on, bringing them food out to the edge of their hole multiple times a day.
Just two days ago I noticed the hole they have was halfway frozen over with a thin layer of ice so I went at it with a hammer and opened it back to the full size they had to begin with, I did that as well yesterday. They still seem perfectly healthy(we made it through I think about 9 degrees at its coldest just recently and the temps look to rise for a couple days)

But we have one more dip in temp coming up that shows a -5 degrees low in the forecast.

I think Kennedy will be fine as he is a full Blue Swedish male(the Peking he paired w/ lived through last winter outside 24/7) but our female Ashe I have no clue what she is. She has a pattern similar to a female mallard but her body shape seems close to his(def chonkier than the wild female mallards that were around), and she didn't start flying at 7-8 months like I had expected(she did actually fly a good distance to meet me as I crossed the lake towards them w food this week, I think she saw her wild mallard buddy fly and realized she should try it lol)

One last detail of why I am more worried for her is that she suffered a bill injury one of their first weeks doing overnight on the lake, I think she got clipped by a snapping turtle. The top section of her bill has about 1/3 of it missing, when it first happened we were worried but I cleaned it daily and she adapted to it and returned to eating fairly easily. This has fully healed and outside of me having to make sure she gets to eat out of a dish she can shove her bill down into it doesn't seem to hinder her. But about 1 cm or less of her tongue is exposed to the elements unless she tucks her head into her wings. So kind of concerned about frostbite there causing long term problems.

I wrestled with what to do all night and I am fully stuck in the middle between the my choices.
We are in Ohio for background info on general temperature.
Adding pics for ID purposes
Again, I can't bring all 4 inside, so if I go with bringing them in they are going to be separated from their pack and I know it is going to stress all 4 of them out drastically. Maybe to the point where the Wild Mallard decides to just leave.

[Edit]Extra detail: they never did start using the shelter I built and the hole they are occupying is about halfway out down the lake from us. So they are just staying at the hole 24/7

Give me your opinion so I can weigh them against discussion we have been having as a family:
Should I...

A) Let them stay outdoors and keep going as we have been

B) Bring them both in overnight for just the coldest night(maybe more if it stays low)

C) Bring just Ashe in and let Kennedy stay outside with the pack(K & A were raised side by side with us so they have a bond from the start)

I limited the poll to these 3 options, but please do reply with a post if u have a fourth suggestion I didn't consider.

P.S. I know the situation is odd, but we love these ducks w/ all our heart, they are our babies. Just rolled w the punches and tried to let them live their best lives out on the lake. I put so much detail in this, thx for reading it all; I still feel like there
is more I can add but I will save it for responses.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Ducks are extremely winter hardy. I always let mine choose if they want to go outside or not. I would not bring them in the house. Between the liquid poop, and the smell, combined with them overheating, it would be bad for everyone.

We are about to get our first dip into the -20's as a low temperature. Just make sure the bedding is deep. They will hunker down, lift their feet into their feathers and tuck their head and will just fine.

 

[BlueSwedish42]

Ducks are extremely winter hardy. I always let mine choose if they want to go outside or not. I would not bring them in the house. Between the liquid poop, and the smell, combined with them overheating, it would be bad for everyone.

We are about to get our first dip into the -20's as a low temperature. Just make sure the bedding is deep. They will hunker down, lift their feet into their feathers and tuck their head and will just fine.

Thank you for your response, I will keep all you've said in mind as we get closer to the temp dip and I reach my final decision.
I am leaning towards the leaving them out there option but just not certain.

Just to re-emphasize for other readers as well...
There is no bedding to make deep at the moment. They are residing 100% in or right next to the hole in the Ice, which itself is about 20-30 feet away from shore. I check on them multiple times a day from window and they are never even hunkered down on shoreline; just in the hole or standing next to it.

And again, if they were both fully healthy Blue Swedish(or other hardy non-flight breed) I wouldn't even be worried right now because of how winter hardy they are.
It's her specific situation(broken bill{tongue exposed to elements}/unsure of breed) that makes me question if I should bring her in for just the night in the coldest dip.

I'm not too worried about smell/poop as we had them indoors in a pen while they were adolescent and I just made sure to change the bedding very often.
But you do raise a good point on the overheating, especially now that they have likely put on a winter layer.
Thanks again for adding that contribution to my thought process.

I took some vid of them in the hole today while I was feeding them and gonna edit them down to add to this thread soon.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I might just move them up to the shelter and lock them in for a few days. They are in danger of predators taking them sitting out by the ice. They should be some where the winds are blocked, and have some hay or straw to get them off the ground.

 

[BlueSwedish42]

I might just move them up to the shelter and lock them in for a few days. They are in danger of predators taking them sitting out by the ice. They should be some where the winds are blocked, and have some hay or straw to get them off the ground.

Yea, I actually was just realizing that today as I fed them. Unfortunately the shelter I made for winter is more of a simple walls and roof with one open side facing the water(built it on the shoreline).
I had constructed them a simple pen with a door in the yard but they absolutely hated it(this was during the transition from almost adult into full grown stage){simple pen was deconstructed to use the material for the winter shelter/cave so I can't pop them in that}

I had considered relocating them to the shelter but I would need to be refilling their water tub hourly(don't have a warmer to keep water unfrozen) and/or break the ice layer up a bit so they can reach the lake water for drinking. It's doable and if nothing else seems right by Saturday I might just go with that option. They just showed zero interest in the shelter(they eat right next to it just fine) but I figured they would at least have the option once it got cold enough. I think it being their very 1st winter they just sort of stayed in the water as the ice layer formed and eventually got to a point where they were just keeping one opening unfrozen.

Vids for a better idea of their situation will be posted next

 

[BlueSwedish42]

Vids for a better idea of their situation at the moment.
I only post them as YouTube vids because the option to attach vids isn't present on this site.
If YouTube links are against rules here do pls let me know and I will remove them

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It sounds like the best option is to leave them where they are. It doesn't look safe for you to try to go out there to try to catch or move them.

Ducks will eat snow. I spent years carrying warm water out daily to mine before investing in heated down bowls. They don't need water 24/7, except in situations like this where it provides some degree of safety from predation.

 

[BlueSwedish42]

Thank you for continuing to discuss this with me.

The ice over the rest of the lake is actually very solid right now, I have been all the way across it and have been around this lake many years. I know that kind of thing can be very unpredictable and I genuinely hope I am not coming off as dismissive of your advice regarding my personal safety. Or any other of your comments for that matter, I truly am compiling all the info you have given me and am going to add it to the tally when it comes time to make my final decision.

I wont be undergoing any transfer operation if the ice becomes more unstable but at the moment it is very solid.

The day when I decided to break off the encroaching ice to make their hole its original size again I was definitely running a risk tho
I can stamp a new bingo spot on my card for "things I never thought I'd risk my life over" now LOL

Hoping to keep watching this post for as many weigh-ins as will show up by the time Saturday gets here.
Also, any other advice or ideas you have I would be glad to hear them.
Thanks again for giving me so much of your time today.