Ducks “helping” with gardening

[WannaBeHillBilly]

What little cuties. It is annoying though, right!? Half the time I try to work outside I have an audience of chickens and cats and dogs all wanting to know exactly what I'm doing. I have to try to distract them and then sneak back to whatever project I'm working on.

Fortunately the Duckies are afraid of the gardening tools, that big orange thing with the one wheel in the front scares them to death when it's moving, but as soon as it stands still they all gather and look what it has brought to them.
When digging, i have to make sure not to accidentally burrow one of them, or step on a webbed foot. They, on the other hand don't mind to bully me out of their way if they see a nice treat…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

My ducks are afraid of shovels and cultivators. If I ding an earthworm when digging I have to bring it to then

They are afraid if the tools when they are moving. As soon as everything is calm again, they all move in for the kill.

 

[EdgewaterDucks]

Plus we are planting another acre of just pumpkins, and 1/2 of sunflowers...

I hear you about the sunflowers, Duckfarmer1. What I did last year was to start growing them in pots and not transplanting them in the garden until they were tall enough so the ducks could no longer reach the top leaves. They could still munch on the bottom ones, but the plants stayed alive!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Did you have your ducks last year at garden time? We have a very large garden and sell our veggies at our road side market stand. They got through our fencing. They ravaged the garden. It was awful! I put up streamers from amazon...I put up CDs...I put up an owl...nothing kept them out! We lost soooo many crops!! They ate through the deer fence. Yep..ate through it! Our garden is two acres. Plus we are planting another acre of just pumpkins, and 1/2 of sunflowers. We can’t put real fenc around that much area...we’re not sure what we’re going to do. I’m just telling you this as a warning. It’s adorable now...because there are no crops for them to ruin...but your garden is small enough to put chickens wire around it...do it!!

I had the ducks around last year, and i bought some really cheap plastic fencing in the internet to keep them away from the tomato and pepper plants. It worked well for a while, until Erpelchen grew heavy enough to drag down the fence and let the girls in… Even spanking did not make him stop , had to strengthen the fence with more and more stakes.
Ducks and goats must have a common ancestor, i call it the Weedosaurus Rex, because both eat everything green from your garden:
Hairy cucumber and zucchini plants? Gone!
Mildly poisonous tomato plants? - Yummy!
Fruits with tough outer shells like Pumpkin or Watermelon? - Just be persistent and gone!
Toxic plants like potatoes, rhubarb and riccinus? - Duck's can't read, gone!
They even ate the large thistles in the pasture! Grass? - Boring! - We want some fresh staghorn sumach leaves with some poison ivy as desert. Our poop always look like diarrhea anyways, so all those toxins make no difference for us…
I'm still searching for a robust and nice-looking fence for the tomato and pepper plant area. Problem is it needs to be temporary because i want the ducks in there to prepare the ground and to clean out after harvest season for the Duck Thanksgiving:

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

If we had to, we could lock them out. They actually are getting locked out after this weekend when the onion sets go in. Luckily they have left our garlic we planted in the fall, alone.

My ducks hat garlic and onions too! - But they looove my peppermint shrubs…
This year i am planning to plant leek, garlic, onions and chives.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Yup! I got ducks because I thought they'd be such a great help in my garden which is nowhere near as big as yours. They were a disaster in it like you said.

Dux are just misunderstood: They will help you prepare the garden and clean out after the harvest season. And they provide you with their magic fertilizer to let your veggies grow to ludicrous sizes.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Mine do keep the slug populations down. The areas where my ducks are allowed have nary a slug

Said that b4: When we moved in here, there were mice in the attic and the pastures were infested with ticks. 20 ducks later: No mice and no ticks. - And no lizards, butterflies, toads and the chipmunks population is dwindling…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I hear you about the sunflowers, Duckfarmer1. What I did last year was to start growing them in pots and not transplanting them in the garden until they were tall enough so the ducks could no longer reach the top leaves. They could still munch on the bottom ones, but the plants stayed alive!

Did a similar thing here: The spots where the dugs had created their mud-puddles and holes i threw in a handful of sunflower seeds and surrounded them with a wire cylinder made out of deer-fence. Until the plants were out of bill reach and large enough not to be toppled over by Erpelchen and the White Panzed gang.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Yup! I got ducks because I thought they'd be such a great help in my garden which is nowhere near as big as yours. They were a disaster in it like you said.

Yeah, I read somewhere that ducks wouldn’t touch the garden...I kept telling my hubby it wasn’t them!! Yeah right!
, 43 little troopers stealing every little bits of green bean, tomatoes even butternut squash!! You know how hard those things are? We caught them red handed! Or should I say...orange beaked?! Bad ducks!!

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Said that b4: When we moved in here, there were mice in the attic and the pastures were infested with ticks. 20 ducks later: No mice and no ticks. - And no lizards, butterflies, toads and the chipmunks population is dwindling…

I do love that there are no ticks!