Do Ducks Eat Mosquito Larvae/Pupae?

[MKUrbanGardener]

Greetings everyone!
This will be my first year raising chicks and ducklings, and in the spring I'm getting a few Black Cayuga and Dark Campbell ducks. I was wondering, do ducks eat mosquito larvae/pupae? I know they're great at eating adult mosquitoes, but as our home backs up to several small ponds/wetlands which I want to let them free range in, I was curious if they would eat the aquatic forms? Similarly, will they also eat other aquatics like dragonfly larvae, tadpoles, frogs, minnows, crayfish, etc. if given the chance? Has anyone seen them eating these critters?
Thanks!

 

[enola]

They will eat all of those critters you mentioned. Plus small snakes and salamanders, basically anything they can catch and swallow. I have seen my hens eat scorpions and baby birds!

 

[MKUrbanGardener]

Scorpions, really? Wow!
Thank you for the advice!

 

[HooliganChicks]

When one of my ducks catch a frog they all fight over it. If you get grossed out easily, don't watch them. They literally pull it apart, running around trying to swallow it before someone steals it from them. If the chicken sees, she gets her piece too. Our backyard is a swampy forest, and usually way too buggy to enjoy in the spring. The ducks have made a huge difference the last two years, and keep the creek from clogging up with weeds, too.

 

[MKUrbanGardener]

My mother was worried about the bugs from the swamp behind our house, that's one of the reasons I used to convince her to let me raise ducks this year

. I think I'm going to have to get a kiddie pool or one of those plastic pond molds for the fall and winter, though; I don't know if the ponds/swamps will dry up latter in summer, and I don't want to risk trying to go out on the ponds in the winter and break the ice to clear them. I also wouldn't want the ducks to freeze out there. I go fishing and often have to gut the fish myself, so I don't think I'd be too grossed out watching them go after frogs and such.