Geese and Wild Ducks keep visiting my Ducks

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

Hello everybody, I have quite the situation, There is a tiny forest down the hill in my backyard, The forest has a pond and recently some people dumped some geese and ducks inside a nearby pond and left, abandoning them, (3 Geese and about 5-6 ducks I guess) I hear them in the pond and one time when I came home from school I saw 2 ducks from the pond next to Margarito and Abigail and digging for worms, At first I got excited and quickly ran inside and asked my Uncle if he had brought any ducks, He said he did not and I told him about the ducks When we both rushed outside the two ducks had went back down the hill, I guess playtime was over, The day after there was a goose inside the pen and when it saw me it flew away. And now very recently in the morning, I saw one of the ducks outside the coop waiting for MY ducks to come out, I have no problem with some ducks having playdates... But I need to know if there are any concerns such as if the ducks from the pond will attack my ducks, or the geese will attack my ducks, or if they will give them a sickness or something. So far my ducks are completely fine with it, The chickens care less and act like the ducks aren't there in the first place, One thing I noticed is that the waterfowl will come out of the pond if one of my ducks quack loudly, I am thinking about taking them in but I do not have a big enough coop for them so that is out the window, Should I put a stop to it? Or just let it be.

 

[Jenbirdee]

My concern would be diseases.
But how do they get in and out of your duck's yard? Is there no fencing? If no fencing then do your ducks go down to the pond also? Or maybe there is but they fly over it? Can you take some pictures of the geese and ducks when they visit - are they all domestic breeds?

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

My concern would be diseases.
But how do they get in and out of your duck's yard? Is there no fencing? If no fencing then do your ducks go down to the pond also? Or maybe there is but they fly over it? Can you take some pictures of the geese and ducks when they visit - are they all domestic breeds?

They come when they are free ranging and unfortunately, they will NOT let me take a picture of them, It is so incredibly hard because either my dogs scare them (They do not even attack them because they think its part of the flock) or because the birds are threatened by them, Or by the time I use my camera on my device its aimed wrongly, My ducks do not go down to the pond at ALL. The ducks are all mallards and the geese are Branta Canadenisis geese.

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

My concern would be diseases.
But how do they get in and out of your duck's yard? Is there no fencing? If no fencing then do your ducks go down to the pond also? Or maybe there is but they fly over it? Can you take some pictures of the geese and ducks when they visit - are they all domestic breeds?

And the diseases is the hard part.. I do not know if the person who dumped them there had dumped them for a specific reason.

 

[Jenbirdee]

And the diseases is the hard part.. I do not know if the person who dumped them there had dumped them for a specific reason.

They are wild, Canada geese and mallard ducks, that means nobody dumped them. They are visiting the area and will eventually move on

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

They are wild, Canada geese and mallard ducks, that means nobody dumped them. They are visiting the area and will eventually move on

Oh I see, I thought somebody had dumped them because that was common in my area, One time somebody had dumped 7 call ducks, all ruthlessly killed due to starvation and hawks picking them off one by one, I thought the wild could not get to the pond.

 

[ruthhope]

The problems with wild ducks include Avian 'flu which they carry but are often symptomless -- last year was a bad year. I think that the best care for your ducks would be to build an enclosed area for them to forage that keeps out the wild ducks; and to ensure that your duck food isn't feeding the wild ducks. If you feed wild ducks they will hang around!

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

The problems with wild ducks include Avian 'flu which they carry but are often symptomless -- last year was a bad year. I think that the best care for your ducks would be to build an enclosed area for them to forage that keeps out the wild ducks; and to ensure that your duck food isn't feeding the wild ducks. If you feed wild ducks they will hang around!

I have not fed them at all, I keep my dogs nearby in case they could somehow scare them off (without killing them of course)

 

[HDKITTYKAT]

And the diseases is the hard part.. I do not know if the person who dumped them there had dumped them for a specific reason.

Keep your ducks away from the wild ducks snd geese. I had a small flock of 85 ducks, 6 geese and 60+ chickens and lost them all to the Avian Flu 2.5 years ago because the mallards kept stopping in my duck pond. I now have 1/3 acre pen around the pond with a net over the entire pen. The Avian flu killed the chickens and then the Dept of Ag killed my Ducks and Geese. It was one of the most horrible days of my life. The wild ducks and geese don't show symtoms.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Keep your ducks away from the wild ducks snd geese. I had a small flock of 85 ducks, 6 geese and 60+ chickens and lost them all to the Avian Flu 2.5 years ago because the mallards kept stopping in my duck pond. I now have 1/3 acre pen around the pond with a net over the entire pen. The Avian flu killed the chickens and then the Dept of Ag killed my Ducks and Geese. It was one of the most horrible days of my life. The wild ducks and geese don't show symtoms.

Welcome to BYC
can you explain how you knew your chickens had Avian flu?
And how the dept of Ag got involved.
So very sorry for your losses.