Show me your WINTER duck waterers!

[DoubletakeFarm]

So how do YOU give your ducks water in the winter? I've been trying to figure out how to give my call ducks drinking water that is deep enough for them to wash their bills but still keep them from getting in it to swim and make a frozen mess all over the barn. This is the best I can come up with so far, sadly. Heated dog bowl with a trash can inverted. There's gotta be a better way.

 

[Miss Lydia]

So how do YOU give your ducks water in the winter? I've been trying to figure out how to give my call ducks drinking water that is deep enough for them to wash their bills but still keep them from getting in it to swim and make a frozen mess all over the barn. This is the best I can come up with so far, sadly. Heated dog bowl with a trash can inverted. There's gotta be a better way.

That's a cool idea actually but the holes look big enough those tiny calls could still get in..

This is all I have come up with keeps my Muscovy's out but you'd need a wider board for your Calls.

 

[lomine]

I planned to put a small aquarium heater in their bucket that has nipples and then use a dog bowl like yours to give them deeper water. I'm totally stealing your idea of putting something over it. Thanks.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I planned to put a small aquarium heater in their bucket that has nipples and then use a dog bowl like yours to give them deeper water. I'm totally stealing your idea of putting something over it. Thanks.

I really does help keep them out, before I started using the board and rock they were using them as their personal hot tubs.

 

[DoubletakeFarm]

I think the holes look bigger in the picture than they really are. We used a 3 1/2 inch hole saw. Now you have me worried, lol. I picture a duck getting in and not being able to get out. I'll have to take it out tomorrow and test it.

 

[JoyAnna]

For the past two winters (upper Washington state) I have used a heated dog bowl. I found it really hard and clumsy to dump the water with the attached wired cord. I then set a bucket of water into the dog bowl. Enough heat from the bowl kept the small, plastic bucket of water from freezing and the bucket was easier to lift out and empty. This worked fine with adult, full size ducks. Rarely one of the girls would take a bath in the bucket

 

[Miss Lydia]

I think the holes look bigger in the picture than they really are. We used a 3 1/2 inch hole saw. Now you have me worried, lol. I picture a duck getting in and not being able to get out. I'll have to take it out tomorrow and test it.

Let us know how it works , didn't mean to worry you.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Since we're on this subject of heated waterers let me just give a warning here. Don't sit your heated buckets and bowls inside anything that can collect water we all know water fowl splash their water all over and one of our members lost a goose from being electrocuted by having set the heated bucket inside a pan which collected water and caused the bucket to short out . I sit my heated buckets off the ground on treated wood but I never sit them inside anything. How heart breaking that had to have been.

 

[DoubletakeFarm]

See, I didn't think about how it's going to be messy to dump. Now I'm finding all kinds of issues with this, but I just can't think of a better way. I use the heated flatback buckets for everyone else, but the calls are way to short to reach them.

What I don't like: it sits on the ground instead of hanging, it's going to be a pain to clean, it doesn't hold enough water.

Does anyone use one of these for their ducks? I was looking at them but I can't tell if the water would be deep enough for them to rinse their nostrils:

 

[DoubletakeFarm]

Thanks for the reminder Miss Lydia. That's part of the concern with heated water and ducks or geese-keeping them safe!