We’ve received several inquiries from people concerned about ducks hanging around despite the swift move into winter. “Why are they still here, and what should I do?” Are the questions we’re getting the most. The questions are in response to our viral video capturing our flocks’ response to the first day of extreme cold and snow here in VT. FIRST - ducks, wild and domestic, are cold-hardy with feathers and fat.
SECOND - Food, Food, Food access is the critical factor for their ability to survive winter; whatever their historic diet has been needs to remain available to them so they retain the ability to maintain calories and fat. For wild ducks, this often means access to aquatic food sources, which means access to some amount of open water. It can be harmful to wild ducks used to eating an aquatic diet to quickly shift to solid, grain-based feed.
We are not experts about wild ducks and their needs, it’s better to find a local /nearby knowledgeable wildlife rehab center and/or avian-board certified veterinarian with experience in this area to help guide you regarding ducks you’re concerned about. Our ducks are domestic - they are Khaki Campbells. Our ducks’ indoor housing is unusual in that it is not an “animal barn” by design, it is super-insulated. The ducks have acclimated to the barn, so they have a very different reaction to extreme winter temperatures - and as the video of them shows, on most cold winter days they prefer the barn over the great outdoors, given the choice. We know folks with rescued domestic ducks that have acclimated to colder temperatures, who live in barns designed/built for animals, and who spent the day outside in the snow and cold the same day our flock raced back inside. Non-human animals are just like us, they acclimate to their environment, and when given a choice they will go with what is preferred to THEM.
Attached a short article about wild ducks that decided not to migrate and one wildlife rehabber’s experience and some information. Ducks Unlimited, a duck hunting organization, has articles also addressing the needs of ducks that elect not to migrate south for the winter - touching on some of the reasons why, and what’s needed by those who stay behind. Of course we don’t support DU, but they have been observing and studying ducks for a long time and as we educate ourselves about how to help our non-human friends we look to all reliable sources. DU’s information is, of course, highly scrutinized each time we read a publication. #ducklove
Article: DUCKS SUFFER FROM WINTER’S ICY GRIP
