are ducks worth keeping?

[Bills vs Beaks]

(Wikipedia)Coots are small water birds that are members of the Rallidae (rail) family. They constitute the genus Fulica, the name being the Latin for "coot".[1] Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water. They are close relatives of the moorhen. Not chicken. And if you hate ducks so much, why are you eating them?

 

[itsasmallfarm]

i think i also should note i plan on leaving my ducks (if i get them along with the chickens) for up to 2 weeks at a time, some one will come around and check on them from time to time maybe once every 3-4 days and collect eggs and make sure they have water, but i plan on making a duckponic system to keep there water clean and have fresh veggies for them to eat, also plan on using 55 gallon drums to house feeders and waters along with a small pond (a stock tank) is that okay to do?

 

[lomine]

I personally wouldn't leave my ducks without someone to check on them at least once a day. A lot of things can happen to water and feed systems. I have multiple water and feed sources in my run and several water sources throughout my yard. A duck must have water to eat. However, it would be entirely a personal choice on your part as to whether or not you would want to leave them for that long unsupervised.

To answer your other question, there are lots of folks who house ducks and geese together without any problems. There are some that have had geese attack the ducks and some who had ducks gang up on the geese. It really depends on the individual animals. I think it helps if they are raised together but even that isn't a guarantee.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

i mean the person who would look after could check every day to make sure everything is okay but there would be times it would have to go without anyone checking on them for maybe 2-3 days at most

 

[Miss Lydia]

 

[duluthralphie]

coots? mud hens? there pretty much the lowest class of table waterfowl to eat (they taste like mud) but interestingly there related to cranes it says.

Really? Have you ever eaten one? 50 years ago I was hunting with my best friend after school. We had no luck with ducks, so we shot a coot aka mud hen...... We actually shot 3 of them. Our dog refused to bring them to shore. We had to strip down and wade out and get them. After checking for leeches and other crawling things. We threw them in the car and headed home.

When we got home we cleaned them, or started too. The smell and taste of the mud was so bad. I can still taste it when I think about them. We were not all that smart. We cleaned the first one and threw it away thinking it was just spoiled and cleaned a second one. I hate to waste anything I shoot, but they were truly inedible!

My car even stunk of rotten swamp mud for 3 weeks. I have never shot another coot the rest of my life...and never will.

 

[duluthralphie]

(Wikipedia)Coots are small water birds that are members of the Rallidae (rail) family. They constitute the genus Fulica, the name being the Latin for "coot".[1] Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water. They are close relatives of the moorhen. Not chicken. And if you hate ducks so much, why are you eating them?

Logic will not work on me!!!!

I actually like eating duck, I just do not like raising them or geese, mainly because of where I live and how many other birds I have that they mess up.....that and my wife would kill me if I ever bring another home. When I had them they liked the front steps better than anyplace else on the farm...

I only had them 3 months.

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

Ha serves you right for killing our web footed friends!
And no, I have not eaten a mud duck.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

never ate one but shot one once (was a double kill with a gadwall duck) everyone i was with told me it tasted like mud and if i ate it i would never eat duck again lol

 

[duluthralphie]

never ate one but shot one once (was a double kill with a gadwall duck) everyone i was with told me it tasted like mud and if i ate it i would never eat duck again lol

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Just cleaning it was bad enough, I doubt anyone could actually touch it to their tongue....