Getting started with ducks on an acre sized pond.

[jhinshaw]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post on backyard chickens! I've been casually lurking for years and my husband and I finally agreed to get chickens and ducks next spring so I thought I would finally get serious about asking questions! Today I wanted to ask about keeping ducks. We have a pond that is about the size of an acre. After doing some reading on these forums I realized you guys were saying that ducks would absolutely destroy pond plants which is GREAT news for us because our pond has a ridiculous water lily problem. It isn't completely overrun but if we don't do something, it could easily become overrun by water lily plants so I thought ducks would be a great addition to help with the mowing!

Here are the questions:

1. How many ducks should I have on a pond this size if I'm just keeping them to keep the pond weeds down and for maybe the occasional egg (and the pleasure of watching ducks of course)?

2. We do have ducks that naturally stop by here and there in the spring and fall but they don't stay. Currently there are 3 on the pond that landed the other day. I'd like them to stick around but how could I encourage that? (Edit: further reading on migratory patterns maybe makes that a stupid question lol)

 

[quackingdom]

Good questions...but they will get rather complicated.

If there are any predators such as snapping turtle, that pond will have to be off-limits for ducks, but if there are frequent wild ducks, it's probably okay.

Once the ducks get on the pond, they'll never want to get off again. So it would be extremely hard to coop them up at night. It's possible to leave them out all night, but then they are extremely prone to just wandering off or being eaten by predators. It would help if you can put a fence around the pond, but it still wouldn't keep out most predators.

How many ducks on it depends on how often they will be on it. If they're on it almost all the time, then you wouldn't want too many. They can turn a pond into a mudhole pretty fast. I would start low (maybe 4 or 5) and get more ducks later on if that isn't enough.

The eggs...if you want any, you'll have to coop them up for the night. Many ducks won't care where they lay and will just drop their eggs in the pond. But the problem would be HOW to get them off the pond.

It's kind of a dilemma. Either...

1. They are on the pond whenever they want. You don't get very many eggs, and they are susceptible to predators.

2. They are only out for the day. You lock them up at night. You get eggs, the ducks are safe. But how do you get them off the pond? And no, food is not a strong enough temptation unless they are starving.

The wild ducks, by the way, may interbreed with the domesticated ones.

And

!

 

[TLWR]

With a pond that size, I'd not let them in it for a while.
Get them used to you and a routine of going to bed at night. Find a treat they love and only use it at night to get them to bed or once they are in bed.
If there are things you want them to do, I'd get them used to that routine before introducing them to the huge pond.
As littles that follow you everywhere, you might be able to let them explore a little and then when you start to leave, they should follow you away, but if not, you need a way to retrieve them. I'd probably just use a kiddie pool until you think there is a good chance they will easily come off the pond when called/treated.

My ducks will get out of their pond for peas. My ducks will do anything for peas. But my pond is only 7x11, not an acre.
If I don't have peas, I have to chase them out with the pond skimmer at night. But now they are penned up unless I'm out with them, so not an issue

 

[jhinshaw]

Good questions...but they will get rather complicated.

If there are any predators such as snapping turtle, that pond will have to be off-limits for ducks, but if there are frequent wild ducks, it's probably okay.

Once the ducks get on the pond, they'll never want to get off again. So it would be extremely hard to coop them up at night. It's possible to leave them out all night, but then they are extremely prone to just wandering off or being eaten by predators. It would help if you can put a fence around the pond, but it still wouldn't keep out most predators.

How many ducks on it depends on how often they will be on it. If they're on it almost all the time, then you wouldn't want too many. They can turn a pond into a mudhole pretty fast. I would start low (maybe 4 or 5) and get more ducks later on if that isn't enough.

The eggs...if you want any, you'll have to coop them up for the night. Many ducks won't care where they lay and will just drop their eggs in the pond. But the problem would be HOW to get them off the pond.

It's kind of a dilemma. Either...

1. They are on the pond whenever they want. You don't get very many eggs, and they are susceptible to predators.

2. They are only out for the day. You lock them up at night. You get eggs, the ducks are safe. But how do you get them off the pond? And no, food is not a strong enough temptation unless they are starving.

The wild ducks, by the way, may interbreed with the domesticated ones.

And

!

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond! Im sorry I didn't get back yesterday I ended up with a surprisingly busy day. The pond DOES have predators. We have snakes (black racers, brown water snakes, the occasional copperhead and extremely occasional rattlesnake) and snapper turtles. One of the snapper turtles has a shell the size of a truck tire. It must be some kind of record. It doesn't exclusively stay on our pond though. We are one pond in a series of 3 ponds that are fed from a long stream. It may be that keeping ducks is not in the best interest of the ducks as there is no way I can really control the predator situation without disrupting the natural ecosystem of the pond. The three wild ducks are not here this morning but they could be on the neighbors pond I suppose...

I do have plans to enlist guinea hens to patrol for snakes though since the neighbor up the road has had some success with them.

Getting eggs from the ducks would be more of a novelty for me since I've never had a duck egg and will be keeping chickens (far away from the ducks after the AI stories I've read on here) so if it came down to the ducks being on the pond all the time I would probably be fine with it as long as it was reasonably safe for them.

Dumb question though....what do ducks do when the pond freezes over??

 

[jhinshaw]

With a pond that size, I'd not let them in it for a while.
Get them used to you and a routine of going to bed at night. Find a treat they love and only use it at night to get them to bed or once they are in bed.
If there are things you want them to do, I'd get them used to that routine before introducing them to the huge pond.
As littles that follow you everywhere, you might be able to let them explore a little and then when you start to leave, they should follow you away, but if not, you need a way to retrieve them. I'd probably just use a kiddie pool until you think there is a good chance they will easily come off the pond when called/treated.

My ducks will get out of their pond for peas. My ducks will do anything for peas. But my pond is only 7x11, not an acre.
If I don't have peas, I have to chase them out with the pond skimmer at night. But now they are penned up unless I'm out with them, so not an issue

This is encouraging since my garden will not stop producing peas! I am planning on having chickens though so I think I'll have to be crafty to make sure the chickens and ducks are separated as much as I'd love for them to BOTH follow me! Since I don't have any experience with ducks, do you find that they become attached to the property and to you specifically if do certain things? I don't know much about their behavior. I hate to say I've given more thought to chickens over the past year. The ducks won my heart when we got the pond!

 

[jducour]

Please, if you have snapping turtles, do not release ducks on that pond. I have seen so many horrible pictures of what they do to ducks. There is a big difference between wild ducks on your pond, and domestic ducks. Wild ducks are small and light, and can fly easily. They are also raised by mother ducks that show survival skills. Domestic ducks are heavy and comparably slower. They cannot swim faster than their prey, and they cannot fly away. Their natural survival instincts have mostly been bred out. I think you sound like someone who would care deeply for her ducks, and would take very good care of them. Just because it isn't safe to release them from the pond doesn't mean you can't have pet ducks! And you can raise them with your chickens, it only gets dangerous if you have a male duck that tries to mate with the chickens. If you have no males, it won't be a problem. Duck eggs are the best! We haven't had to buy chicken eggs from the store for longer than I can remember, and my 4 female ducks are giving me more eggs than my family of 6 can eat. I currently have 8 dozen in my fridge waiting to be eaten

 

[jhinshaw]

Please, if you have snapping turtles, do not release ducks on that pond. I have seen so many horrible pictures of what they do to ducks. There is a big difference between wild ducks on your pond, and domestic ducks. Wild ducks are small and light, and can fly easily. They are also raised by mother ducks that show survival skills. Domestic ducks are heavy and comparably slower. They cannot swim faster than their prey, and they cannot fly away. Their natural survival instincts have mostly been bred out. I think you sound like someone who would care deeply for her ducks, and would take very good care of them. Just because it isn't safe to release them from the pond doesn't mean you can't have pet ducks! And you can raise them with your chickens, it only gets dangerous if you have a male duck that tries to mate with the chickens. If you have no males, it won't be a problem. Duck eggs are the best! We haven't had to buy chicken eggs from the store for longer than I can remember, and my 4 female ducks are giving me more eggs than my family of 6 can eat. I currently have 8 dozen in my fridge waiting to be eaten

Well I guess ducks are probably out for the pond then! I was concerned about keeping ducks with the chickens for a couple reasons. The first reason being avian influenza and the other being because I was considering keeping guinea hens on the property free range and possibly (after a lot of research) considering keeping the guineas cooped at night with the chicken hens. The avian influenza was the biggest concern because so much of what I have read indicates that duck to chicken transmission is the biggest risk. I could easily make a separate pen for the guineas if needed so that wasn't a biggie, just easier if I can house them overnight with the hens.

I may just need to go without ducks altogether since my primary reason for choosing the duck for the pond was a natural means of keeping pond plants mowed down. I don't want to dredge and kill the fish or frogs or otherwise disrupt the balance just to keep down the lilies. I've never had birds for pets but I do care very deeply for all creatures and would never want to put them in an unfair situation or in harm's way. Maybe I will just have to find another means of maintaining the pond...

 

[jducour]

Avian influenza isn't a concern for domestic ducks. Domestic ducks are very unlikely to carry disease unless they spend a lot of time with wild ducks.

 

[jhinshaw]

Avian influenza isn't a concern for domestic ducks. Domestic ducks are very unlikely to carry disease unless they spend a lot of time with wild ducks.

Oh okay well that is helpful to know at least!

 

[quackingdom]

Sorry that the pond won't work. I know how it is. I have a huge pond, but I can't let my ducks in it because of alligators.

You could still get ducks, though, for the eggs and fun. I wonder...it might be possible to pluck out the water lilies and feed them to the ducks? But it might be tough to access them.