City Ducks!

[lovesduckies]

Quote:
i absolutely disagree with you 100% i have 2 ducks that live inside my bedroom and they are the happiest ducks. they love it in here and they HATE going outside. last time i tried to take them out, they waited by the door to go back in. they have fun dancing to me singing and cuddling with me. they are so happy, it's soooo cute.

 

[riftnreef]

Well it would appear I have a lot more research to do and a short period of time to do it in. We went to a poultry swap to hand off an extra roo, and stopped by a brooder for a couple extra egg layers when my wife and daughter spied the ducklings. They are cute, and seem very content to brood with the chickens, but I doubt they can share living arangements with them much longer. I of course insisted they get two so they don't get lonely, and the guy selling the babies had the parents on site....they looked like maybe buff/ruen crosses to me, but i'm no duck expert, in fact I know nadda about ducks, so expect to hear a LOT from me in the comming months while I get their living arrangements in place. I was under the impression that folks got these spring ducklings and when the fethered out just relesed them to local ponds and water ways, but I've since learned that would be a death sentance for them, so we will care for them for their natrual life span, or until such time as they need to be re-homed, and I promise they will recive the best of care from us, just as our chickens do...

just lead me in the right direction.

 

[melAnconaMom]

I sadly don't have a yard but instead a very large rooftop deck (about 20ftX24ft) that Ive converted into a "green" roof. It supports the weight of a large hottub so instead of using our private deck for adult relaxation time like our neighbors we set up a garden instead. I still need to set up my 4x5 grass run and the duck house for my three Anconas but they are still small and live indoors at the moment and get swimming in the bath upstairs and outside time while i tend to my other plants. once I have the deck fully set up I'll post some pictures.. But they are quite happy with their indoor/outdoor city life. I was really worried about not having dirt and grass and a yard for them till i saw how a lot of people keep their ducks indoors or even on a patio with proper bedding. The duckies still get to scavenge little bugs and grit on the porch when I'm out there.. they love the grubs that keep ending up in my planters and they get a healthy diet of dark greens and supplemented crumble for the rest of their indoor time. once they are fully feathered I will be setting up a kiddy pool as well on the porch fr their swimming needs and since this is all on a fenced portion of roof of my house I have nearly no predators to deal with accept birds of prey and I don't leave my ducks out in the open at night or early morning when they hunt so they never come by. Even though i'm sorta in city limits, we are allowed backyard chickens and ducks.. we are just only allowed a flock of 6 in city limits and I'm on the edge of town so that rule doesn't even apply to me. though I wont expand my flock unless we find a better home in the future with land that we like.

 

[RacerWife7]

I'm suburban and have a coop with a pond and 3 ducks in it right now. We're getting set to build another coop, as well, as we have two more ducklings to add. Only reason we need another coop is because our 3 existing outdoor ducks are 2 drakes, 1 duck - NOT good. We have to separate those drakes and give them their own women. It was either that, or get rid of one of our drakes. My younger son is emotionally attached to ALL of them. So, we decided to get our mallard some women of his own so he'd leave our Swedish blue bonded pair alone.

As for neighbors, maybe we are lucky. But, our neighbors (a) either don't hear them or (b) like them and tolerate my noisy girl (they never hear the drakes with their scratchy quacks). Truthfully, my next door neighbor says the ONLY time my girl quacks is when I'm there. He says he never hears them, otherwise. ...Also, once I have 3 layers, I'll share more eggs and that might win them over even more.