@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!
