ducks ducks and more ducks

[bgossett07]

i want a duck! but my parents arent really sure about them... if you buy a duck do you have to go through a wildlife thing to own one. because i want a malard duck and birds like geese and stuff are migratory and i was just wondering if you have to do special things to get the malard duck.... if i do have to i will just stick to chickens.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Mallard ducks will fly away, so you have to clip wings. Have you considered a more domesticated breed, which will lay eggs for you? I just tried ducks out, and I have 3 breeds: 2 blue Swedish, 1 cayuga, and 2 Welsh harlequin. The Swedish and cayuga are 6 weeks old, and the harlequins are 4. The cayuga is getting a new home on Sunday because she's just too loud for my little neighborhood, but she'd do well on somewhere with more land. The Swedish are super quiet so far, but I think that's because they're both drakes... they're still young, though, so I'm not sure. The harlequins are my favorite so far... they were super cuddly as babies, and now they're just sweet and not too loud. And harlequins are supposed to be super egg-layers. But all of these are flightless, and won't need a really tall fence.

Consider where you live... do you have a lot of land, or neighbors that might get mad if they're too loud? Do you need it to produce a lot of eggs, to help convince your parents that it will be useful? Are you interested in preserving a rare breed?

My ducks live right along with my chickens, and eat the same food. I do need to give my ducks more greenery, so I'll buy a bag of frozen peas, or clip a bunch of lettuce or weeds from my garden. You don't have to have a pond, but they will love a kiddie pool. They do have to have a water source deep enough that they can submerge their heads, but a deep dog bowl will work if you're willing to keep it full. I have an 8'x8' pond, and my friend has a small water tank that she puts a heater in, in the winter.

I don't know what the laws are in your city. But here, if it's a duck that isn't considered wild, you just have to follow local poultry laws. In my city, they're all legal as long as the neighbors are fine with it.

 

[bgossett07]

yes i do have a lot of land where i live everyone of our neighbors either have chickens or ducks so that wouldnt be a problem.. also i let my chickens out in my yard for about 2 to 3 hours so if i got ducks that would be fine to let them out together we just have a problem around our house a lot of hawks are around so i couldnt let the ducks out as much! i will have to see what is the rules in my city thank u very much...

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Ducks grow FAST! MY 4-wk-olds are already almost big enough that a hawk couldn't carry them off. I can't even say that about my 3-month-old ameraucanas. My Swedish and cayuga are already bigger than my full-sized laying hens.

 

[bgossett07]

i know ducks get pretty big but we have chickens and a hawk attempted to try to get in the chicken coop we have but i was out there in time to where they didnt get anything we have huge hawks around our house.