I have two pet ducks whom live in a plastic dog house filled with wood shavings. But not it is getting too cold for them to be outside. I have a chicken coop that is filled to the max, but i was thinking of putting bales of straw around the chicken run to keep the warmth in and put their little house inside the run. I dont think that will be warm enough tho. Any ideas? It gets to be about -20 in the winter. They cant go inside or in the garage. Please help!
I'm guessing that you don't have a barn, so your going to have to try a build a mini one or they will freeze to death for sure.
Put them in the run like you said. Make sure to have some plywood walls put up to block the wind & snow around the run and/or use your hey bales on the outside of the run to help insulate the entire run if you don 't want to put up normal Styrofoam or pink insulation with the plywood.
Put down a heavy layer of pine shavings and straw on the floor to help insulate the run.
** If you only use wood or hey on outside of the run:
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Then, make a wooden box large enough to go over just the dog house (about three feet longer) leaving the front open.
Put bales of hey all around the dog house box. Stack them up on top and all sides but the front .****
Use a heat lamp, brood lamp, or barn safe heater pointing toward the dog/duck house box (or just in the run if you have chosen to insulate it with foam or pink stuff).
In the run you may want to have a "warm spot" of at least 40 degrees for them.
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Make sure you have airflow and make sure the lamps can never come in contact with anything flammable, like hay, wood, etc.
You already keep your dog/duck house with a thick flap on the front as well as facing away from any wind I'm sure.
Oh and you can put heating pads under the dog house!
You can also place the dog/duck house up on pallets to get it off the floor.
You should try to either buy or make an insulated house for them. Im sure you can find an insulated dog house big enough for them, or you can make one out of big pieces of Styrofoam. Also you should cover it in big blankets and put one on the ground inside the "house" so they don't have to sleep on the cold ground. I hope this answer was helpful to you!
