Flying Mallards. Will they come back if allowed to fly around

[Jody]

I know call ducks fly and I'll have to clip wings to prevent them from disappearing, but I love the looks and coloring of the Mallard and woman I bought my call ducks has some Mallards as well as my local feed store and I am so tempted to buy some and wondered if I chose not to clip wings and let them fly if they would come home after a fly around town... But also, come fall, they would fly south I think.. would they return home assuming they're still alive?

Reason I ask is because I pondered the idea of creating an open pond in front of my house where ducks can come and go of their own free will, much like in nature.. sort of like a semi controlled protected habitat.. I would however tag them with leg band identification, etc.. I don't know, just thought it would be cool to have flying ducks around here instead of land/pool dwellers, but suppose flying ducks increase risk of disease/illness being brought back to the rest of them too.

Just curious about this for now as I think I have enough ducks til I can build more little houses.. Might just stop making little houses and let everything roam around the barn, lol

 

[classroomducks]

My parents have my babies now and they are 5 pekins and 2 mallards...the mallards are not clipped. They fly out of the pen every morning and every now and then will take to the air, but for the most part they are content to stay with the fat grounded pekins.

 

[chickenlittle32]

I have flying mallards. They do fly around and come back to where they belong. I love watching them fly around....Just a cool sight to see.

 

[17roses]

I have a young pair of mallards in with my Pekins and Khakis. I think they are happy to stick around but I would rather be safe than sorry. I am clipping their wings.

 

[spish]

my friends have a large pond in their garden. they bought three mallards who bred like crazy. they now have around 30 ducks who come and go as and when they please...but always come back to their 'home'

 

[duckface]

I had four mallards last year who would fly around a couple of times a day. They had a routine and it was fun to watch them. They were never out for more than 20 minutes or so and always came back, but I was worried they would leave come fall and ended up clipping their wings. Three of the four were males so we had to sell two and the one we kept with the hen was killed by a dog so now the only mallard in our duck flock is the hen and she's my favorite.