Things are heating up!

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great week! As summer starts to kick off, we’re starting to turn our attention to getting our house and little farm ready for the heat. We do a variety of things here to help all of our animals stay nice and cool during the summer. This includes sprinklers and tub time for the ducks, and frozen ice treats for the dog and cat. When Petrie was living in the garage last summer due to her injury, we also used fans and reusable ice packs (for her to lay on/next to) to help keep her cool.

During the hottest days of summer, we will often leave a mister on for the ducks during the hottest part of the day to help drop the ambient temperature. We also make sure to provide plenty of shade and fresh cool water for them to drink. We’ll also pull out the tub and give them time in the exercise pen with the tub and mister to let them splash around and have fun. We can’t leave the tub in the run with them all the time due to Petrie’s injury and the boys weighing several pounds more than the girls. Fun duck treats can include watermelon or frozen peas.

For the dog and cat, we do several different things to help keep them cool. We run window A/C units for most of the summer (for critter and human comfort!). We also will fill a kiddie pool full of water for the dog to play in; which she seems to find super fun. For added fun; toss toys, treats, or ice cubes into the pool. One other fun thing we do is to make frozen treats for the cat and dog. This is a throwback to my time in zoos and other facilities where we would make frozen treats for the animals under human care. For Lily, I general freeze watered down beef or chicken broth with various fruits or veggies in random containers (including ice cube trays, silicone cupcake liners, yogurt containers, or even sour cream containers). For Adele, I use watered down “tuna water” (the liquid you drain off a can of tuna) and occasionally some treats. I find ice cube trays work best for kitty size treats.

Here at Lucky Duck Farm, we always strive to do our best for our animals. I hope some of these ideas help you keep your critters cool and survive the summer heat. Let us know of any great tips/tricks you have for keeping cool this summer!