A few more dumb duck questions

[gritsar]

This human being the dummy, not the ducks. I don't want to hijack stormhorse's thread, so I'll ask here.

Now that I have found out from the good peeps at Ideal that I could order a few ducks from them and they might actually function as the packing peanuts rather than extra roos....

I thought I could raise my ducks with the chicks until such time as the ducks are ready to move outside. How will I provide seperate feed for each in the same enclosure? Won't the ducks want to eat the chick food and vice versa?

#2. What are y'all referring to as "call ducks"? I don't see anything listed on Ideal's site as call ducks. So far it's been a toss up for me between cayugas and black runners (Ideal doesn't offer the blue runners).

#3. How many males to females? I'm thinking 3 females, 1 male.

And one more:
#4. Do ducks destroy gardens like chickens or can they function as weeders the way geese do?

 

[okiechick57]

First of all..... this link is for a call duck site

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu58Z2...o/EXP=1200696217/**http://www.callduck.co.uk/
I have 3 muscovy ducks........they are total heck on potted plants and anything sprouting out of the ground that looks remotely editible....... not sure what i will do this spring when all my plants start coming up..........
It is said to have one male for up to 5 females..........I have 1 male, 2 female.........
They do function as weeders.........as I said ANYTHING green right now or growing later.......they will get...... I will have to pen mine up I am afraid........where as my chickens just destroy my mulch......not so much the plants ...that is.........AFTER they are done springing up in the spring..
Call ducks are very noisy compared to other ducks
I also have 3 fawn and white runners....and a Rouen and a mallard mix.......not so noisy.but they have yet to come out of their enclosure.........it should be most interesting this spring.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Thanks okie, I needed to know this. With my SO working night shift and sleeping in the daytime any really noisy bird would find themselves on the wrong end of the dinner fork real quick.

 

[okiechick57]

well.yea would hate to see your SO make duck soup.......hope noone gets mad at me......for saying call ducks are loud.......they are compared to the breeds I have....someone that has them may not agree....... good luck......runners are a blast to watch too.