Duck Problem

[Vlatro]

Hello, I am new to this forum. After a quick review of some other online forums, you guys seem to be the most knowledgable, so it seemed a good place to ask about this:

I have a wild duck infestation of my pond. The pond is too small (1300 Gallons) to provide a sanitary home for the ducks and my Koi. They trample and eat all the vegitation, and the duck feces has thrown my pond's pH off the charts. They don't seem too intrested in my fish (they're too big to eat), but it's absolute devistation otherwise.

I'd be having duck for dinner, but can't fire a shot gun with my house being so close to my neighbors. I tried letting the cat out, as he is a great hunter. The ducks don't mind him at all, I caught him rubbing his face on one, and it couldn't have cared less. I may be having cat for dinner... Traitor...

The way the plants are arranged, netting is almost a non-option.

Add to that, other people in the family (and the neighbors) absolutely love the ducks. They are currently nesting in my compost pile, as the old leaves are getting pretty warm right now.

Even if I can chase off the wild ducks, I get the feeling they'll have to be replaced to maintain the peace with my family.

So here's my question:

1) Does anyone know how to scare them off so they won't return the moment I go back inside? If I kill them, I'll catch hell from the family.

2) Is there a less destructive breed of duck (possibly a minature) that would co-exist with the pond, not eat the fish, and preferrably not eat the water lillies?

3) Will having a resident duck attract other wild ducks? I know decoys attract them, so I assume if a passing duck sees another being fed and has his own pond, it may decide to move in.

Any input is welcome, thanks.

 

[Duck Keeper]

Try a FLOATING alligator or croc device. They don't like the movement.

As for you other questions... NO. Most any ducks will eat most any vegetation.

I don't have many other suggestions.
Sorry!

 

[Fudgie]

Can you comprimise and keep a pair and rehome the others to another WANTING family. That way your immediate family can enjoy the ducks and the pond can get back to normal

 

[Wifezilla]

Try putting a really splashy fountain in the water. My ducks wouldn't swim in the pond until I moved my water feature around so it wasn't splashy

As you can tell from my post, my pond was designed with the ducks in mind. I have 2 filtering systems attached to my 500 gallon pond. One is a modified skippy filter made out of a plant basket, some scrubby pads and some quilt batting.

The other filter is a large decorative pot that the water feed in to the bottom, over some pieces of hog's hair bio-degradable furnace filter and then it spills back in to the pond. On top of THAT, I have a duckweed culture I am trying to get going to help the water even more. Not only will the duckweed help clean the water, I can feed the duckweed back to the ducks

It is still in experiment stage, but so far so good. Here is a thread about my duckponics experiment....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=146829

 

[Vlatro]

Thanks for the replies.

I like the idea of the floating crocodile, I have some wooden owls that solved a pigeon problem, so that may work.

As for the water feature, these ducks seem to love the fountains and waterfalls. I've even sprayed them with the hose, they line up and wait to be splashed.

A friend of mine hunts ducks. He is amazed by how "personable" these seem. They have no fear of people, the neighbor's dog, my cat, the garden hose, loud noises, sudden movements etc. They only thing they won't allow is being picked up, if I try they fly off and are back within an hour. There is a park a few mile away with a pond, so he theorizes people there feed them and they've become accustomed to it. They return to my house to nest apparently.

Another good suggestion I found online was the use of predator urine in the nesting area (my compost bin). I'll try that as well.

The site has convinced me to keep some hens, hopefully that will be a fair compromise after I remove the ducks. Perhaps in the future we will have some ducks, but it will require some planning, (switch to plants ducks won't eat, fortify the filtration system, evaluate what breeds will best suit the area etc.)

 

[ScoobyRoo]

From KS. Good luck solving your duck problems. Ducks and chickens are fun to have.

 

[Wifezilla]

I've even sprayed them with the hose, they line up and wait to be splashed.

My stupid ducks run from the hose. I guess I can understand...they were flock-raised and didn't have a pond or anything when they were younger.​