Accidental new duck owner

[HoglundH]

Ducks like baby pools, just a cheapy one from walmart. Change the water every other day. Luckily we have a large swamp on our property, they spend the whole day patroling it and eating all the duckweed. Our ducks live with our chickens in the winter (what a mess). In the summer they live outside and are fed outside, much easier to clean up after them.

 

[sandracollins]

I have 5 call ducks and they live with my hens ,I got them a large dog box to live in but after 3 nights of chasing them around to get them in there I just gave up and they go in the coop with the hens

 

[Amiga]

This forum is a great place for information, and Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks is an excellent book for the range of information it covers. She is beautiful!

 

[Wifezilla]

That is a hatchery quality welsh harlequin...most likely from Metzer. I have one that looks just like her minus the crest

 

[JosieR]

She is beautiful! Another vote for Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks. You can offer her peas, that seems to be the favorite duck treat

She might get along fine with the chickens but will make a big mess. Some kind of house to keep her safe from preadators at night is a good idea. I don't give my ducks food or water at night to cut down on the mess.

Enjoy her!!

 

[KansasKid]

Quote:
I believe if a hatchery sent me that claiming its a crested welsh harlequin i'd be ticked.

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

I thought she looked like she could have some Welsh Harlequin in her when I saw the pic.

I've never seen a pure WH with such a spotted bill, and her white neck band looked too large, to name a few. So I was thinking a mix if some kind. Even Hatchery ducks sometimes turn up mixed. I have a Black Swede that came from Cackle, and let me tell you, he's either mixed or just poorly bred. I'm certainly no expert, just IMHO.

 

[wonderpup]

Thanks for some of the tips

She seems to have officially adopted us and doesn't stray to far from our yard now. She was outside my bedroom window really early this morning quacking LOUDLY

Not sure what she was talking about but she wanted everyone to know? Maybe she was hungry, her bowl was empty. She came running when I filled it up this morning and gave her fresh water.

Hummm, maybe I will have to get some peas for her... Actually I think I probably still have some in the freezer for the baby to eat.

She is really friendly it seems though she got all 'Oh no you didn't!" when I hugged my husband in the backyard yesterday afternoon lol. We brought her into the backyard for a little while to hang out with us. She was frightened of the chickens and ran away from them. Then randomly would run up if they were getting attention from my husband and do a little duck attack. We won't be taking her in the back again to run around though. I discovered that ducks poop A lot in a relatively short time and that wouldn't be sure a big deal except that my husband came in from the yard yesterday evening and said "Uhhhh Jazz is gonna need a bath... she rolled in the duck poo..."

Jazz is our 50lb standard poodle who is carrying a show coat... fantastic. So I spent 2 hours last might bathing and blow drying the dog.

Going to have to see about getting her a little pool and putting a little decorative fence or something around our pond. She is murdering the pump in there clogging it up. I don;t know if we can get a different pump that can handle a duck lol.

 

[Amiga]

I may have missed this - but does she have a safe place to be at night? Ducks are, uhm, sitting ducks at night.

 

[wonderpup]

You know what I honestly do not know where she'S been sleeping at night. I checked outside about midnight before I went to bed and she was messing around the pond. Her other family had a dog crate outside next to the pond and she may have used that as a house and she may not have? Sometimes the crate and the duck were gone so I assume that took her inside when it was to cold? We used to drive by in the evening or later at night if we had been out and she would be sitting at the edge of their yard by the road asleep. I need to go to the flea market this weekend and see if I can pick up a cheap kennel for her and see if she'll move into that. Or I guess my husband could build her a little house next to the bush by the pond. Up until last night once it got dark we didn't see her anymore. I *think * she was sleeping in the nextdoor neighbors Azelea bushes. We're going to plant some of those in the spring, not for her per say been planning on it for a while now, but maybe she can use those as well. She is NOT afraid of the neighborhood cats, it's the other way around in fact but of course cats probably aren't the only thing I need to worry about.