Florida Permits for Ducks?

[GeoGreyWolf]

Hello all, so today seems to be a posting day for me lol. Just out of curiosity I started looking up Ordinances in my area for Ducks. Not finding much on it, but have ran into about owning a Permit from FWC. There is a free one for personal pets by the looks of it and a $50 for unlimited animals, this says for mallard possession. Has anyone in here run into this, or have one? If you do can you advise me what it is for, such as all mallard breeds, and what about Muscovy? I posted on the state forum page as well but noticed there are more chicken owners on there and not many duck owners.

 

[Welshies]

You can have domestic ducks without a permit. Mallards are wild and like all wild birds require a permit.

 

[GeoGreyWolf]

Hmm I might need a permit, I have 1 pekin, 2 Blue Swedish, 1 Mallard (bought from a breeder)and 1 Muscovy (rescued)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Not all Mallards are wild you can buy domestic Mallards they usually have back toe clipped off or hole punched in web I believe. As for your Muscovy In Florida she is considered an invasive species but as long as you keep her home I don't think there is a problem.

 

[PirateGirl]

You can have domestic ducks without a permit. Mallards are wild and like all wild birds require a permit.

That's not entirely true in the US. The permitting varies by municipality. The town I live in requires a permit to keep any fowl within town limits at a cost of $5 a bird annually (among other things).

@GeoGreyWolf if you live within town limits, check your town website, it's usually under either zoning or animal control and look for "fowl" as opposed to "ducks" If you aren't in town limits, the regulations would be based on your county zoning. Depending on the size of your property and how it's zoned will determine if and how many you can have.

Here is an example of what my county zoning looks like...

 

[Miss Lydia]

http://www.myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/managed/waterfowl/nuisance/nuisance-muscovies/

 

[GeoGreyWolf]

Thank you, so by the looks of it i do not need a permit since all the ducks are domestic ones and the Muscovy was a rescue. I will not be releasing any of my ducks to lakes and ponds.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just love them.

 

[Emu Island]

Hello all, so today seems to be a posting day for me lol. Just out of curiosity I started looking up Ordinances in my area for Ducks. Not finding much on it, but have ran into about owning a Permit from FWC. There is a free one for personal pets by the looks of it and a $50 for unlimited animals, this says for mallard possession. Has anyone in here run into this, or have one? If you do can you advise me what it is for, such as all mallard breeds, and what about Muscovy? I posted on the state forum page as well but noticed there are more chicken owners on there and not many duck owners.

I see this thread is a few months old but wanted to respond. I too thought no permit was needed in Florida for domestic ducks. However I had a visit from FWC a couple weeks ago and they are requiring me to get a permit for my Welsh Harlequin ducks. According to the FWC investigator I spoke with, ALL ducks in Florida must get the permit except muscovies and Pekins. (The reason for exempting muscovies and Pekins makes no sense but they are exempt.)

If you keep ducks as pets you can get a free personal pet permit.

If you sell duck eggs you must get a permit from the division of agriculture ($110 a year) and FWC ($50 a year).

If you sell ducklings you must get the FWC $50 permit.

Farming in Florida is drowning in regulations that are not applied to big box stores and are taking business away from the small farmer. Tractor Supply Company gets around the FWC permitting and regulations by buying out-of-state, selling online and having ducklings delivered to the customer at the post office. Rural King still sells ducklings and game birds in store as well as online and parking lot sales. Both RK and TSC invites unlicensed farmers to sell ducklings and eggs in their parking lots when they hold farmer swaps. All this serves to do is for the unlicensed farm to undersell the licensed farm while the stores themselves are underselling us both by ordering live birds from out of state instead of supporting their own customers.

 

[darko47]

Thank you, so by the looks of it i do not need a permit since all the ducks are domestic ones and the Muscovy was a rescue. I will not be releasing any of my ducks to lakes and ponds.

You need permits for any mallard that is not a pekin, and muscovies do not need permits. This applies to domestic mallards which involves Swedish, khaki, rouen, etc etc. They all must be caged