Ducks and Alligators.....

[MrsPlopPlop]

Hey there! I'm new to the site My husband and I just moved from Idaho to Lutz, FL and with 5 acres and a HUGE pond on the new property we decided to do ducks (I did chickens back in Idaho). We have 10 ducks on the way.. a mix of 300s, layers, Cayuga and pekin.
Here's our dilemma - we were walking the property this morning to try and scope out where we will build our duck house (can't be totally free range obviously because of all the critters here)..... and also to see if we have gators in our giant pond - really it's a small lake. And there are absolutely most definitely and without any question.... at least 3 gators.

Now my husband is from here originally, but I am a northwest girl- born and bred. I am not familiar with gators. Nor did I ever consider I would be quite this familiar with them.

I could just not let the ducks use it, but there are some major benefits of the pond;

Basically the pond is COVERED in duckweed, and all kinds of goodies I know the ducks would love to nibble on all the day long. Also the pond goes beyond our 5 acre lot and increases their roaming room to almost 10 acres of bonus playing space. Unfortunately I'm not entirely sure the benefits out way the risks here... as my ducks might not live long enough to enjoy it! Am I over reacting? I've never dealt with any predators other than raccoons - this is all totally new to me.

I mean I literally watched the pond (which has been laying without maintenance for 10 years) and thought - oh my god. I need to double my duck order to make up for "incidentals".

Does anyone want to share their similar experience and the resolution or solutions they cam up with? I want happy ducks... and I feel like it would just be such a pity if they couldn't utilize such an awesome pond! Can I remove or relocate some of the gators? Will they even bother the ducks? Is it possible to section off a piece of the pond for just the ducks to use? Feedback would be awesome! And really really appreciated.

Also... does anyone down south have any issues with snakes getting a hold of the eggs??

 

[Amykins]

You're seriously asking if it's okay to, in good conscience, let your ducks out onto that pond knowing full well that they are going to be eaten? And worse, even buy extra ducks as a contingency plan?

Uh...no. The answer is absolutely, indefinitely, unequivocally no. The gators gotta go. There are specialists all over the South that specifically deal with removal of these dudes, so I suggest you check the phone book.

 

[MrsPlopPlop]

...

You're seriously asking if it's okay to, in good conscience, let your ducks out onto that pond knowing full well that they are going to be eaten? And worse, even buy extra ducks as a contingency plan?

What a nice welcome to the forum
I guess I see it at a little more of a practical standpoint... I tend to be overly objective about these things; my heritage is all farmers and ranchers, and I guess growing up with so much exposure to agriculture and farm animals has desensitized me.

These are in fact animals I am farming... and using as a food source. For eggs of course, not meat... unless of course they don't want to lay. Then we will fatten them up and have duck imstead of Turkey next November I understand they will be a sort of pet, and I will respect each of their little lives.... but let's face the ugly truth - they are rather expendable. Since they are farm animals and not show dogs

 

[CGilbert]

Buy a cheap breed or mutt and test the waters (pun intended, lol)

 

[NatureChica]

I would call a gator guy and if the man is worth his salt he will come out and bait them and catch them and all should be fine until the next batch of gators moves in and you have to call him again.
Seriously tho, a gator guys your best bet. One gator can eat, maim and damage your whole flock in almost no time...and if there are in fact THREE then I would definitely hold off on getting ducks or sticking any of my body parts in the water...ouch. ;-)

 

[needlessjunk]

I understand they serve a purpose and buying extra because sometimes things do happen. However having gators isn't one of those "things" that happen. You already know that they are there and yes, they will eat the ducks. Also snapping turtles will eat ducks, ducklings or just bite the feet off and they will die slowly. So in addition to having the gators you will also have to deal with snapping turtles that need to go. What else is native that eats ducks? I'm in TX so we have pretty much everything. I think there are mink in FL, coons, Hawks, gators, snapping turtles, skunks, opossums, rats and snakes (usually eat eggs). I know having a body of water is very tempting to put ducks on but domestic ducks are just like chickens and will get eaten by everything. How will you get them off the lake at night? Ducks tend to drop eggs wherever so if you are planning on using them for farming eggs you may have to rethink your plan. and keep asking questions. There is also state specific threads under the where and I? Where are you? They may be able to help with how to get rid of some of the predators.

 

[NatureChica]

@MrsPlopPlop
I too am born and raised in the Midwest and that's the mindset we are raised with. Cold, ruthless winters made us a bit ruthless too for survival purposes. Farmers and ranchers have to calculate their losses and animals are a product...
It seems twisted to some unless thats they way ya were raised.
I fully support eating eggs and birds. I just want to be the one doing the eating! no foxes, gators, wild dogs, coons....
I have even dug my fence half a foot into the ground so it's difficult to dig under...I'm convinced they will still find a way in but I'm trying my hardest to prevent it.

Welcome to byc.

 

[jducour]

Welcome! I can understand that because you have a beautiful pond you want to stock it with beautiful ducks. Some valid points have been made before me. My thoughts are this - The ducks will go out to the pond, and you will probably never touch them again. They are hard to get back from smaller ponds, they would just prefer to stay out there. I have extremely tame ducks, and a relatively small pond. Some nights I have to get a pond net and force them out of the pond. They don't understand the risks, and they don't know why you would make them get out of their happy place! I live in suburban Utah, in the middle of a neighborhood, in a climate exactly like Idaho. I have a lot of predators here to deal with, my neighbors lost their entire flock last month to a marmot. I can't imagine tripling or quadrupling the amount of predators, and to expect them to survive free range. Everyone wants a tasty duck dinner! You can still get the ducks - I would just have them contained in a run closer to your house. You can provide a pool and they will be kept safe from harm. You can collect some yummy duckweed every day and bring it to their pool. You will also get to collect their eggs- ducks will drop them where they stand, especially younger ducks. They will also hide them. If they are contained in a run, you will get all of their eggs. If they are out on the huge pond, there will be no eggs. It is their nature to hide a nest, and they won't hide it close to your house

Please don't think we are being mean, the people on here really know their stuff, and they have seen too many situations just like this end badly. It's pretty predictable what your outcome will be. Look around on the forum, search snapping turtle injuries, ducks released to wild pond, and you will get a better idea of what everyone is so concerned about. Domestic ducks cannot fly, so they have no defense against a wild ducks natural predators.

 

[Amykins]

Buy a cheap breed or mutt and test the waters (pun intended, lol)

Are you being serious? It's hard to tell :/

As for the OP - if you want eggs, fine. If you want to eat the ducks, fine. In cases like this humans know how to dispatch a bird cleanly and quickly - I did it most of my childhood for goodness' sake. But you gotta concede that to just let them loose to die a painful, gory death just isn't okay. You know those alligators will eat those birds in half a heartbeat. I'm with Chica, ducks are pretty low on the food chain and as an owner you gotta do everything you can to protect them. Until you find a better solution and have the means to protect your flock, please, I beg you to reconsider getting ducks. You'd be amazed how loveable, friendly and full of personality they can be, and the thought of them being offered up as gator chow just breaks my heart. And I highly doubt you want to spend a lot of money buying all these extra birds as "backups" because at that point you aren't keeping ducks. You're keeping gators. And keeping them very, very well-fed.

 

[CGilbert]

During hunting season, offer to let people hunt on your land for a gator. I know up in Idaho, people jump at the chance to hunt on private land versus public. That would probably help your gator problem a bit.