Adding a duck! (Or Goose?)

[chickens really]

You will start off probably with Ducklings?....Try getting sexed Hen Ducklings..4 of them...Choose a breed or you can have a mixed flock...Set up a Brooder that will be large enough to accommodate them as they grow..Then comes feeding Ducklings and no spill water dishes...Ducks are messy, stinky and then messy again...They are little poop machines...The best time of year to get Ducklings is in the late spring so they can be moved outside soon...
First do a lot of reading about Ducklings and Ducks...
Then take the plunge into owning them...
Best wishes....

 

[Coturnix Quail]

Thanks everybody! I'll be sure to check out that thread and keep an eye on the duck forum.

 

[Sara Ranch]

1, do they murder grass like chickens?

Nope. My ducks forage and leave little holes in the tall grass. Those holes are in the GRASS, not the dirt/ground. Their poop helps the grass grow. Some animals poop discolors the grass - the ducks poop does not.

When the duckies were little and went to their outside clubhouse, they would dig a hole in the grass/dirt right beside their pool. Only there. Once they were allowed to free range, the hole digging stopped.

*Their clubhouse was a calf house, a 5' pool, and a fenced in area where they spent the day.

2, how long have you been keeping ducks?

This is my first year.

3, whats the deal with cold, are they alright with it?

I choose to insulate my animal houses. Some people don't.

So far the lowest temp here was 15 and the ducks were ok. It was 15 at 7 am. Duckies are out at 7 am. They've done fine with high/strong winds, snow, ice, and general COLD weather.

I do provide wind breaks for them. They do not have access to their duck house during the day - it's for sleeping only this year. Next spring, it will be available for nesting. The duckies lay eggs, usually, after they go in for the night before the next morning.

4, if I only get two, what are the chances they'll be friendly?

Friendly to whom? Each other? Most likely. You? Not likely. Most ducks just don't want to be handled by humans. Period. My duckies are "friendly" - don't want to be picked up - but they always say hi to me when I pass by. We have breakfast or lunch together sometimes. (That means I take my food out to them and eat while we talk and they eat and/or play. I usually bring a special treat for them when we get together.)

If they feel I am not paying enough attn to them overall, they let me know.

5, how do your neighbors react to your ducks? Mine don't really like loud animals, so I gotta keep them quiet or get quiet breeds. (Pekins may not be the best breed then. But again, my Pekins ONLY make loud noises when they NEED to communicate with me and I am not there.)

I don't have any close by neighbors to complain about the sounds. Visitors are surprised that the ducks will immediately to come to my side and stick around until I tell them it's ok to go. (They appear to be protective.) Visitors are surprised that ducks (Pekins) are loud. Visitors are surprised that my ducks want to be acknowledged by visitors before they leave.

If a visitor wants to feed the ducks, I get them some greens from the garden and show them how to do to feed the ducks.

6, do ducks run fast?

Super duper fast when I need to, or want to, catch them! Again, mine don't like to be picked up. They will come up and give me duckie kisses, sometimes rub against my leg, but me not allowed to touch with me hands. Just me eyes.

When I adopted two large dogs, one got out and chased a male duck. The first time it happened, he caught the duck. I think, in part, cuz the duck flew and hit a fence and fell to the ground. The second time it happened, the ducks got away.

7, what are some common diseases I should know about?

Ducks can get cocci and worms. I treat the ducks when I treat my chickens, turkeys, and guineas. Same stuffs.

They can get a mold or fungus infection on their bills. It can usually be treated with over the counter stuffs.

They can get bumble foot. Google treatments.

They can get angel wing. Nothing to worry about. Their wings just grow a bit faster than their body. Think of a kid whose ears are too big or feet are too big or hands are too big - they grow into them. Duckies grow into their angel wings. When one of my ducks had it, I didn't treat it. I just let nature take it's course. The angel wing resolved itself. Looking at Chocolate, you'd never know he had an angel wing growing up.

8, how big are their eggs on average?

My girls lay eggs that will fit into a "Large or Extra Large" chicken egg container. Sometimes, I get double yokers that don't fit well in the egg container. The first month or two that they start laying eggs, the eggs may be a variety of shapes and sizes as their bodies work out the kinks. On average, my duck eggs are XL or XXL. The Pekins lay white eggs.

9, how do their eggs taste?

Super yummy! To me, they are a little salty. BUT I don't typically add salt and pepper to my cooking or eat a lot of processed foods. So I tend to be very sensitive to salt taste. No one that I have given/sold duck eggs to has been able tell the difference in taste. They have said that the yolk was super bright orange. (Yep - my girls free range.) They have said the yolk was big. (Yep - it's typically a little bigger than a chicken egg yolk.)

10, do they wreck gardens?

In my case, no. When they were babies and out on supervised free time, they would taste every plant in the landscape. Those that I cared about I would ask them to leave alone. Duckies like to play and have personalities. My duckies would "pretend" to bite the leaves of the plant while watching me. It became a game. Once they knew I cared about a specific plant, they didn't eat it or trample it.

My duckies have access the food garden. They take what they want, when they want. They (and my chickens) seem to understand that if they break the plant, there will be no more goodies from the plant. My duckies have access to the orchard. They don't jump up to get fruit, but will inhale fruit on the ground and whatever is given to them.

I had one "experiment" plant in the main, high traffic chicken/duck area. The ducks respected the plant and went around it. The chickens did too, most of the time. Once the freeze happened, the chickens decided they didn't have to respect that plant as much.

A better question would be, will you have the time and the patience to work with the duckies to train them to leave some plants alone?

What else?

 

[chickens really]

As a note....Ducks do not commonly suffer from Coccidiosis or parasites if their management and nutrition is balanced..