Winter Care for Call Ducks
By Jerry Foley
Since my call duck breeding pens are 8 ft X 4ft cages 2 ft off of the ground with
wire bottoms and a small covered area at the end of the pen, they are not the
best to house calls in the winter. I live in Kentucky and we do get cold here in the
winter time, but we do not get a lot of heavy snow fall like some areas of the
country do. Most call duck breeders are pros at getting their birds through winter,
but this article is aimed at the newer breeders. I am going to cover what works for
me here in Kentucky; this may not work for you if you live in Iowa or Minnesota. If
you have had call ducks for several years it has become apparent to you that they
seem immune to the cold and will actually stand outside during a blizzard just to
drive you crazy. However we do need to set up conditions for the ducks to protect
themselves from damage during hard cold spells.
Outside vs. Inside
I have kept my calls in the barn through the winter in the past and they made it
through the cold weather very nicely, however I have breeding pens set up in my
barn for my large fowl wyandottes that have lights on for 12 hours a day. I was
very careful to make sure the calls were on the other side of the barn as far away
as I could place them away from the lights. Apparently it takes very little light to
make call ducks lay eggs, since all of my call ducks started laying like crazy in the
middle of December…effectively ruining my entire breeding season for my ducks
that spring.
So the next winter I put my calls in the barn and put up a large tarp so they did
not get any outside light as I do have panels in my roof that let sunlight in. This
time when spring came round my calls breeding season seemed to be delayed by
over a month, I would guess because they were not getting enough of the
sunlight from the days getting longer going into spring. I may have messed around
too long in getting them back outside, although I did get them outside by the end
of Feburary.
At this point I decided that keeping the calls in the barn during the winter was
seriously hindering my call duck breeding program, it just took me longer to figure
it out than it would have most people. I now keep my calls outside all winter…
Outside pens in the winter
Many breeders use the same “off the ground” breeding pens through the winter
that they use during the summer. Basically you will put clear plastic around the
pen all the way to the ground to block the wind coming up through the wire floor,
and then you put straw on the wire floor. This works pretty well, but is a pain to
maintain all winter and is much more work than I want to tackle in the middle of
winter with gloves on.
I find that “on -the ground pens” with a roof that covers the entire pen works best
for me. I like to use wood shavings or the pine pellets horse bedding in the run
area. I use just wood shavings in the sleeping area. I generally put about 8-10 calls
in each pen, fighting is not really a problem with the birds in the winter as long as
you introduce all of them into the pen at the same time. I try to keep a good eye
on the birds the first few weeks in case there are a few drakes in there that have a
long memory with a grudge to work out from the prior breeding season.
I do not keep tubs in the pens that the birds can swim in during sub zero weather.
I normally will put a piece of 1 x 2 or 2x2 inch heavy gauge fencing over the water
pan so that they can drink out of it without actually getting in the pan to swim. I
sometimes use the electric dog water bowls so that they can have access to
plenty of drinking water during the day. If it is about freezing I will put a
“swimming pan” in the pen so they can clean up and then take it out when it is
colder.
You will need to check the birds about once a week and make sure there is no
build up of fecal material around the vent, also make sure they are not losing
weight or what we call “going light”. It’s difficult to tell how well they are doing
without handling the bird and I try to make sure I handle each bird.
Conditioning and health
I like my calls to go into winter fat and sassy, but by the time spring hits I want
them lean and mean for breeding season. Fat call duck hens don’t lay eggs very
well. It is important to make sure your calls are in good health going into winter,
now is the time to worm them and check them over for good weight. Make sure
there are no issues going on with their sinuses, if you see a discharge or swollen
sinuses below their eyes you will need to treat them. Also check the vent area for
mites.
I also like to make sure the hens and pullets are getting access to plenty of oyster
shells for the upcoming breeding season in the spring. I also like to make sure
there is some corn added to their diet to help keep them warm.
I think I have covered briefly all the main issues concerning winter care of the call
ducks, as I stated earlier each area of the country has different issues to deal with
and everyone needs to work out what they need to do when it comes to getting
their birds through the winter as healthy as possible.