Hi - My fiance has raised chickens for quite a few years. He usually has anywhere between 3 and 6 at a time. His favorite animals are ducks though, and he has been talking about getting a couple for about a year now. So I was thinking about getting him a couple of ducklings as a Christmas present. The only thing is that he doesn't have a pond in his yard. He has a small fountain though. I feel silly that I don't know anything about raising ducks! Is this a bad idea? Does he need a pond?
Nope you do not NEED a pond, mine don't have one.. tough beans.. technically i have a small KOI one but it's not theirs and we fence around it to keep them out!! Honestly, it's easier to keep troughs and/or kiddy pools... unless you have a good sized natural pond, ducks are messy so water care is of top priority hence why mine are not allowed in my filtered pond. Storey's guide to ducks is a good resource(besides here of coarse lol) I will also give you the raising duckling care page to give an idea what your in for ... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/750869/raising-and-caring-for-ducklings#post_10611711 ducks are wonderful but messy compared to chickens, loads of mud and water usage is high, i mainly have ducks for pest control but i also keep some calls for pure pleasure.
Thanks, Going Quackers! I appreciate the response and the link. I'll be reading that right now, and I'll take a look at Storey's guide too. I'll let you know how it goes! Peace.
Duck are an absolute blast! He will love them! but spend as much time with them as possible with them as babies, talk to them alot and play with them tons! That is the best way to raise them or else they wont enjoy your company like a chicken does. the post above couldnt be closer to the truth about mud and water! I have my ducks in the backyard with a small trough but we built a decorative fish pond in our front pond that, if they behave, get to visit every day or two for about a half hour. this gives them enough time to play and get a good wash. What kind of ducks were you thinking?
I have two ducks that I will be giving away for free to a good home...they are both males and arnt happy here...we live in Michigan in the new haven area
I don't have a pond and just moved to my farm a month ago. In the spring I was just going to get an old bath tub or kiddy pool and let them swim around in that. It is snowing like crazy and my outside water is frozen solid right now, so I brought my 4 little ducks into the bathtub to give them a treat lol >.< I know, I am crazy, but at least it is easy to clean lol. They haven't been in water for about 3 months now and they are currently 4 happy little duckies lol
