Almost everyone who gets ducks runs into the same thing: a week later the house is damp, smells of ammonia, and the litter needs changing almost daily. Ducks aren’t dirty — water just means more to them than a drink, and the drinker setup has to account for that.
Why ducks need so much water
A duck eats by scooping feed and washing it down. It rinses its nostrils and eyes with water, and if it can’t dip its head, the eyes get inflamed and crusted. It also needs water to clean its feathers, which otherwise lose their waterproofing.
A pond isn’t required. Water deep enough for the duck to submerge its whole head is: 10–15 cm for an adult bird.
How much they drink
An adult duck drinks about 0.5–1 liter a day, more in the heat. Counting splashing from an open drinker, the total is one and a half to two times higher. Ducklings drink a lot from day one: 2–3 grams of water per gram of feed.
How to set up drinkers
- Put drinkers over a grate. A wooden or plastic tray with a grate on top and a drain or a box of gravel underneath. Splashes go down, not into the litter.
- Deep and narrow. A bucket or trough that fits a head but not a whole duck.
- Keep drinkers away from the resting area. Ducks sleep where it’s dry and shouldn’t have to cross a wet zone to get there.
- Nipples only as an extra. Ducks can drink from them but can’t rinse their eyes.
- In winter you need a frost-free drinker: on a heated base or with a heating cable.
If the litter is still wet
Wet litter means ammonia, foot problems, mold and aspergillosis. What to do:
- Remove the wet layer by the drinkers daily and top up the rest with dry material.
- Check ventilation: if moist air doesn’t leave, the litter never dries (on house climate).
- Move water outside during the day and leave drinkers indoors only for the night.
Which bedding to use is covered in our bedding article: the same rules apply to ducks, you just need more dry material.
If you do have a pond
A pond is good for feather condition and mating, but still water quickly fouls with droppings. A small pond with no flow builds up bacteria and parasites. Rotate runs, keep ducklings off the pond until they’re feathered, and keep wild ducks away: they carry avian influenza (what to do when it threatens).
Water as a health signal
Ducks drink a lot and steadily, so a sudden drop in water use is an early warning sign. In EggPulse you can log daily water use per house and see when it moves away from normal. More in poultry water consumption.
