Ducks beginner

[Camilla Chicken]

Another vote for Rouens, here.

And have you read the stickies at the top of the Duck Forum?

Two books I like are Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks and The Ultimate Pet Duck Guidebook.

the Ultimate pet duck guidebook it priced around 70-150 dollars holy smokes! why so much for a 222 page book ! i would understand if it had around 1000 pages

 

[Camilla Chicken]

okay well as long as it has the mallard coloring are you shure there arnt any fully domistic mallards out there

 

[missnu01]

Well not all of them decide to fly away...there is just that chance...and mallards aren't usually terribly friendly as a breed...they are born being nervous of humans because they are a wild breed. But you might get some that never fly off, or they all might..there is no way to tell. We have 4 mallard ducklings, and I'm hoping they will choose to stay with us, but I am also planning on clipping their wings once they have feathers to try and discourage fleeing. I would have preferred to get all heavy ducks, but I saw the mallards and they were just too stinking cute. But I am worrying about it as they are an instinctual migratory breed. So they are going to want to fly off once it starts to get chilly.

 

[Amiga]

the Ultimate pet duck guidebook it priced around 70-150 dollars holy smokes! why so much for a 222 page book ! i would understand if it had around 1000 pages

Uhm,

Here is what I found

The Ultimate Pet Duck Guidebook: $34.99

are you outside the U.S.? I once bought a DVD from Australia and it cost at least as much to ship it as the DVD cost, doubling the price.

.....

So if Rouens are too big, what about Australian Spotteds?

 

[Camilla Chicken]

Well we might end up with rouens we are most likley getting the ducklings from TSC soo it will be mallards or rouens it depends on what they carry on the 24th

 

[jdywntr]

Domestic ducklings raised by people are unlikely to survive on their own. They cannot live on a pond as they do not learn from their mother the survival skills needed.
Ducks need predator proof housing, just like your chickens have.

Domestic mallards have been bred too long away from wild mallards. They should not be released into the wild.

Read the following and you will see why domestic should not be released. This is info from the El Paso Zoo:

Domestic ducks can also carry many diseases which wild populations of ducks do not have immunity to and which there is no cure for. New Castle Disease, duck virus enteritis (DVE), fowl cholera, paratyphoid, avian tuberculosis, chlamydiosis, bird flu and West Nile virus are just some of the diseases that domestic ducks can transmit to wild flocks. In 1993, Muscovy ducks, released into the canals in Venice, California, tested positive for duck plague, duck virus enteritis (DVE), a fatal herpes virus spread through feces. Ducks and geese on the canals began to have violent seizures and then died.
People were feeding the ducks and geese, which can cause them to have more and larger clutches. The canals had become overpopulated. This leads to stress from too many birds in too small a habitat, resulting in fighting, injuries, death and disease. All the ducks and geese in the canals were rounded up by the California Department of Fish and Game and killed out of fear that some birds might fly to other areas and infect wild flocks. ​

This issue received international attention, when residents tried to save their favorite birds by taking them to secret locations in an attempt to save them. However, it was the release of domestic ducks, compounded by feeding and the resulting overpopulation that was the real tragedy. (The full story and debate can be found in the Newsletter of the Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society, March 1994.

 

[Camilla Chicken]

Domestic ducklings raised by people are unlikely to survive on their own. They cannot live on a pond as they do not learn from their mother the survival skills needed.
Ducks need predator proof housing, just like your chickens have.

Domestic mallards have been bred too long away from wild mallards. They should not be released into the wild.

Read the following and you will see why domestic should not be released. This is info from the El Paso Zoo:

Domestic ducks can also carry many diseases which wild populations of ducks do not have immunity to and which there is no cure for. New Castle Disease, duck virus enteritis (DVE), fowl cholera, paratyphoid, avian tuberculosis, chlamydiosis, bird flu and West Nile virus are just some of the diseases that domestic ducks can transmit to wild flocks. In 1993, Muscovy ducks, released into the canals in Venice, California, tested positive for duck plague, duck virus enteritis (DVE), a fatal herpes virus spread through feces. Ducks and geese on the canals began to have violent seizures and then died.
People were feeding the ducks and geese, which can cause them to have more and larger clutches. The canals had become overpopulated. This leads to stress from too many birds in too small a habitat, resulting in fighting, injuries, death and disease. All the ducks and geese in the canals were rounded up by the California Department of Fish and Game and killed out of fear that some birds might fly to other areas and infect wild flocks. ​

This issue received international attention, when residents tried to save their favorite birds by taking them to secret locations in an attempt to save them. However, it was the release of domestic ducks, compounded by feeding and the resulting overpopulation that was the real tragedy. (The full story and debate can be found in the Newsletter of the Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society, March 1994.

they wont be put into the wild they will be pet ducks and have a coop they will be on a pond for swimming and to play they will not be wild at all we will handel them every day and feed them duck feed when they are older we will supervise them and also the pond is right in frount of our house (BTW ducks have instincts) we will house them inside untill they have there adult feathers

 

[jdywntr]

Well I'm glad you are planning on keeping them contained. Domestic ducks do have instincts but they do not possess survival skills, they need to learn them.

 

[jdywntr]

Also you don't state where you live so check your state laws regarding mallards. They are not legal in all states. If local stores are selling them you will be fine and hatcheries shouldn't ship them to you if they aren't legal.

 

[Camilla Chicken]

it is very legal in Pa we have a community pond and every 5 years we release mallards that farm people raised from ducklings its really fun that's why we love mallards so much. (the ducks live in a old renovated house they have care takers and get the tip top vet care and they just love people and last year they added a few swans and geese and 3 new typs of duck)