Duck Lovers Unite! - *A Chat Thread*

[Miss Lydia]

You could try. Where are you feeding them now?

 

[Claires Poultry]

This picture and your free ranging status makes me wonder if your ducks actually free range or are in a pen with a natural body of water? Do you lock them up at night?

I had six girls and a drake since last year. One say the drake was just missing. I kinda thought the girls may have gotten tired of his advances and done him in and the six girls were happy. Then about a week ago every night one or two would disappear. They were on a five acre pond and quit coming into their pen at night. I miss them but don’t want to try again next spring unless I can train them to roost in their pen reliably every night for their safety.

Yes, my ducks do actually free range. I had them locked in the coop so I could take those pics. I can't get close enough to them for up close pics of them when they're outside, so therefore I had them in the coop just to take pics.
I don't lock them up at night in the summer. They are completely free range 24\7.

So sorry about your losses.

 

[Claires Poultry]

I got more pictures of my birds today. Here are the duck pics.
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Gorgeous ducks!

 

[FrankieDoodle]

Beautiful ducks.

Love the perspective volleyball!

Gorgeous ducks!

Thank you!

 

[dpenning]

You could try. Where are you feeding them now?

I don’t, I’ve lost them all. I’m trying to decide if there is a way I can keep them safe short of never letting them out of their pen. I wouldn’t enjoy them if they were not out on the pond. I have to make some changes before I try again in the spring.

 

[dpenning]

Yes, my ducks do actually free range. I had them locked in the coop so I could take those pics. I can't get close enough to them for up close pics of them when they're outside, so therefore I had them in the coop just to take pics.
I don't lock them up at night in the summer. They are completely free range 24\7.

So sorry about your losses.

How do you handle predator control? I’ve thought about trying to keep the ducks on the island in the middle of the pond but we have a pair of Canada geese that nest there every year and they wouldn’t be nice to the ducks.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I don’t, I’ve lost them all. I’m trying to decide if there is a way I can keep them safe short of never letting them out of their pen. I wouldn’t enjoy them if they were not out on the pond. I have to make some changes before I try again in the spring.

I am sorry I didn't realize you lost them all. Try fencing in part of the pond like you mentioned. But still predators can climb so it's going to be interesting to figure out how to do it an keep them safe and let them be on the pond too.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Elly do you have losses to predators? it would seem you would because predators are just about every where.

 

[Claires Poultry]

Elly do you have losses to predators? it would seem you would because predators are just about every where.

No, not in a very long time, we have a guard dog that keeps the predators away.
A long, long time ago before we had a guard dog, we had a fox that wiped out nearly all of our birds, an owl that ate a chicken, and a coyote that came right into the yard in the middle of the day while my dad was running a chainsaw, but other than that, never had any losses to predators.

 

[Claires Poultry]

How do you handle predator control? I’ve thought about trying to keep the ducks on the island in the middle of the pond but we have a pair of Canada geese that nest there every year and they wouldn’t be nice to the ducks.

We have a very effective guard dog that keeps all the predators chased off far away from the house\coops.