Ducks and Alligators.....

[enola]

The only way to keep alligators out of a pond is by fencing the ENTIRE perimeter of the pond. If you have a gator hunter come and eliminate all of the Gators on your pond's shore, other alligators will move in immediately. Alligators are territorial and have a pecking order that is much more violent than chicken's pecking order.

Gators are also very lazy and will find ducks extremely easy to hunt.

 

[MrsPlopPlop]

@Amykins

So the "OP" was actually about whether or not the gators will actually bother them.... not about whether its considered humane or not to feed my ducks to hungry alligators. We have a lot of close friends here with ponds and say that the only time gators are active is dusk and dawn... people here are pretty casual about them so I was wondering if any person on here with actual experience in gators and ducks sharing a pond could give me a little insight... as I am not from here and can obviously take no claim to know how that situation would actually work. However in observing all of the ponds here (which without question have gators) there are many water fowl including ducks who seem completely at home on and in those ponds - gators and all - as for our pond, It's not like it's gator infested... it's a 5 acre pond with 3 small gators in it. As for the "incidentals" comment.... that was merely just to emphasize how worried I was that 10 ducks might not survive based on my small knowledge of gators.
Furthermore - I have the means and am prepared to build them what ever type of home I need to based on the predators we are dealing with. If at all possible I would wish them to be as free range as possible because... Is it humane to keep them completely confined their whole lives? I personally don't think so. Simply trying to get a good idea for how extensive their coop/run will need to be.

 

[DucksAndGardens]

I used to live in florida and we had a small pond that didn't have gators in it until we got ducks and then we had no ducks. The two small 3 footers that showed up killed the whole flock in one day. Granted we only had 6 ducks at the time but Alligators kill their prey then drag it underwater to decompose a bit before eating it and that's what they did with our ducks. So even if you bought 40 ducks the gators would wipe you out in no time and it might even draw in more alligators since there would be an increased food supply. There's no compensating for duck deaths by increasing the flock.

 

[MrsPlopPlop]

@DucksAndGardens

Excellent. Good factual information I can work with! Now that I know this, I will have to build them a private enclosure with a small pond in it. Which shouldn't be an issue. My other question for you would be - will the gators bother their enclosure at all?

 

[Amykins]

@Amykins

So the "OP" was actually about whether or not the gators will actually bother them.... not about whether its considered humane or not to feed my ducks to hungry alligators. We have a lot of close friends here with ponds and say that the only time gators are active is dusk and dawn... people here are pretty casual about them so I was wondering if any person on here with actual experience in gators and ducks sharing a pond could give me a little insight... as I am not from here and can obviously take no claim to know how that situation would actually work. However in observing all of the ponds here (which without question have gators) there are many water fowl including ducks who seem completely at home on and in those ponds - gators and all - as for our pond, It's not like it's gator infested... it's a 5 acre pond with 3 small gators in it. As for the "incidentals" comment.... that was merely just to emphasize how worried I was that 10 ducks might not survive based on my small knowledge of gators.
Furthermore - I have the means and am prepared to build them what ever type of home I need to based on the predators we are dealing with. If at all possible I would wish them to be as free range as possible because... Is it humane to keep them completely confined their whole lives? I personally don't think so. Simply trying to get a good idea for how extensive their coop/run will need to be.

If you let those ducks out onto an pond you know has alligators in it, you ARE feeding the gators whether you like it or not! It's possible top have an enclosed duck run and still have enough space for them to be happy, you do know that, right?

 

[DucksAndGardens]

Depends on how far from the pond you have the enclosure and what the current pond food supply is like. I'd make sure that you have good fencing around the whole pen though. They can rip through hardwarecloth and chicken wire like it's paper and a hungry gator can be pretty determined. We actually fenced off the yard from the pond with a chain link fence to keep the gators from being able to get to the yard and the critters from getting to the pond. We had dogs and alligators love dogs too. They will come right up and snatch a dog in no time off the bank. So we ended up separating everything from the pond just to be on the safe side. If you relocate the alligators you will need to fence off the pond completely and it has to be sunk down in the ground because alligators can dig.

 

[NatureChica]

Yes maam, it's a possibility. Not definite but if you have a food they love gators tend to come.
Burying the fence and securing it with the large fence stakes is one thing that may help keep them out.
Having someone come live trap them may be a good idea in addition to your gatorproofing plans.
I always prepare for the worst and hope for a better outcome. I had a pack of coyote take out my flock in 2 nights by sneaking under a tiny hole in my gate. I was 14 at the time and now I have very little "live and let live" left in me. They did it for sport and left the carcasses strewn on my lawn. I was left to clean up their mess.
If they don't bother us than yay but if there's a predator I will be sure to be sure they don't get my birds.
We just moved and now I'm predator proofing a new setup and it's nerve wracking trying to think of all the ways they can get in there.
I know I will miss something and then it's too late.

 

[enola]

Go to YouTube and search "Aligators and Fences". I just watched videos of alligators climbing over chain link fencing.

I am remembering why I do not live in Florida!!!!

 

[JadeComputerGal]

@Amykins

So the "OP" was actually about whether or not the gators will actually bother them.... not about whether its considered humane or not to feed my ducks to hungry alligators. We have a lot of close friends here with ponds and say that the only time gators are active is dusk and dawn... people here are pretty casual about them so I was wondering if any person on here with actual experience in gators and ducks sharing a pond could give me a little insight... as I am not from here and can obviously take no claim to know how that situation would actually work. However in observing all of the ponds here (which without question have gators) there are many water fowl including ducks who seem completely at home on and in those ponds - gators and all - as for our pond, It's not like it's gator infested... it's a 5 acre pond with 3 small gators in it. As for the "incidentals" comment.... that was merely just to emphasize how worried I was that 10 ducks might not survive based on my small knowledge of gators.
Furthermore - I have the means and am prepared to build them what ever type of home I need to based on the predators we are dealing with. If at all possible I would wish them to be as free range as possible because... Is it humane to keep them completely confined their whole lives? I personally don't think so. Simply trying to get a good idea for how extensive their coop/run will need to be.

Welcome to BYC, and sorry you've had a kind of rough start. Emotions can run pretty high when things like this come up.

Like you, I'd hate to see a pond that size not being used. Something like that screams for tons of ducks and geese and swans. I still, however, wouldn't use it for the purposes you describe, and I'd say that even if there were nothing in it but some frogs and fish.

@jducour seems to be of the same mindset I am. It's not so much to do with alligators or any other duck predator. Ponds that size are very tempting, but they aren't a good choice for domestic waterfowl. As Jen said, once you put domestic ducks on a pond like that, you'll probably very rarely, if ever, get them back. Even a feeding ritual probably won't help. If they come out for a regular feeding they get used to, you're still going to go through h*ll every night trying to catch them to put them away. Not putting them away every night means no eggs since you're not controlling where they nest and lay.

What I would do is put up a coop, pen and run near your house. A large enough pen or run will accommodate a decent size pond for them. We have a 250 gallon preformed pond in our main pen, and we have two more of them outside the pen and near the house since we let our ducks out of the pens after work and on weekends. Since you have the means to do it, I would fence around even those ponds because it's possible those will draw alligators as well, so I'd play it safe. My uncle lived for years in Pompano Beach, directly on the water, and he still got alligators in his outdoor swimming pool pretty regularly. Why did they come out of a large body of water and into a swimming pool? Who knows, but the things animals do don't always make sense to us.

Sounds like you have a lovely new home and you're going to have a great life there!

 

[NatureChica]

Go to YouTube and search "Aligators and Fences". I just watched videos of alligators climbing over chain link fencing.

I am remembering why I do not live in Florida!!!!

Eeeek! Erm, not a fan of gators although they are quite tasty.

Worst thing for me was being on a bike ride with my two little kids, stopping to drink our water bottles and right there next to where we were sitting (10 feet from the river bank) out pops a gator. I picked up both kids and got us the heck outta there. I found out that day that YES there are gators in my part of North Carolina!