I have 8 week olds and 5 week olds. We have a small pond (well compared to the little decorative ones people build it's a lot bigger than those)...once they get their full feathers- we planned to let them go to the pond. They will be mostly unmanaged during the day- we check on them about 2 hours now as it is and will likely keep doing that but moving to 3 hour intervals. Back to the coop for night time though.
I have been very diligent about offering peas between 8-830 pm nightly. They will follow me around pretty much as long as I have the green crack in hand. I AM very nervous about letting them go to our pond and afraid I will have a hard time getting them back in. It's probably only about 5 feet deep at it's fullest. It is loaded with frogs, toads and minnows and lots of yummy greenery. It's a bit overgrown now but we were helping the ducks would help with that.
No turtles that I am aware of. My kids played in it last summer (without my permission and I freaked because ewww! I knew this was a pond the previous owners had ducks on and the wild ones used to come here before we kept shooing them away) and no one had been bitten or anything. It is a manmade pond so I am not sure how snapping type turtles could show up here.
My 2 big concerns: eagles/hawks will still try to take off with a full grown 5-9 pound duck right? AND my biggest concern: anyone who has made the transition with their freshly feathered ducks to pond have many issued getting them back to the coop at nights?
Right now I am also working on removing their food in the afternoon so that supper time they know peas + supper is coming.
Anything else I can do to prepare? Thanks!
(eta: i say 3 weeks because we decided to wait until the youngest ones were fully feathered too and then introduce them all to the pond)
Extra Question: during the day the 14 ducks will be out to the pond basically alone although we will check on them every 2-4 hours during the day. is there another animal that we can add -like a pair of female geese or something that will help keep the big predator birds away? A dog is not an option at this time.
I have been very diligent about offering peas between 8-830 pm nightly. They will follow me around pretty much as long as I have the green crack in hand. I AM very nervous about letting them go to our pond and afraid I will have a hard time getting them back in. It's probably only about 5 feet deep at it's fullest. It is loaded with frogs, toads and minnows and lots of yummy greenery. It's a bit overgrown now but we were helping the ducks would help with that.
No turtles that I am aware of. My kids played in it last summer (without my permission and I freaked because ewww! I knew this was a pond the previous owners had ducks on and the wild ones used to come here before we kept shooing them away) and no one had been bitten or anything. It is a manmade pond so I am not sure how snapping type turtles could show up here. My 2 big concerns: eagles/hawks will still try to take off with a full grown 5-9 pound duck right? AND my biggest concern: anyone who has made the transition with their freshly feathered ducks to pond have many issued getting them back to the coop at nights?
Right now I am also working on removing their food in the afternoon so that supper time they know peas + supper is coming.
Anything else I can do to prepare? Thanks!
(eta: i say 3 weeks because we decided to wait until the youngest ones were fully feathered too and then introduce them all to the pond)
Extra Question: during the day the 14 ducks will be out to the pond basically alone although we will check on them every 2-4 hours during the day. is there another animal that we can add -like a pair of female geese or something that will help keep the big predator birds away? A dog is not an option at this time.
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