Have a pond, any suggested breeds that stay put?

[GeneJordan]

I have a 1/4 acre pond, and would like to have geese (or maybe ducks) out there.

I don't want to physically prevent them from being able to fly, but I would like to allow them to roam fairly free.
I am wanting to float a home for them out in the middle of the pond for protection.

Are there any breeds of Geese or Ducks that have a tendency to stay where they are born?

 

[Silver Spring Waterfowl]

Hi, Gene! Welcome to BYC!

I don't know much about ducks. I did have a few about 10 years ago to keep the pond vegetation down and built them a "Floating fort". It didn't work. They never used it. If they're anything like geese, you may have to teach them to use it from an early age. I'm sure someone with duck experience can tell you a lot more about them. Mine got picked off by a bobcat, one by one. They decided to roost under the dock and that was that. Mercifully, we weren't attached to them.

Any of the large or medium dometsic geese should be okay. They are generally too heavy to fly, although they all love to get their toes off the ground for short distances. Domestic birds don't try to migrate with their wild cousins. Whether you choose ducks or geese, you really should plan on having ready a safe, predator-proof enclosure to put your final choices in at night before you bring them home. It's really heartbreaking when predators attack your pets, especially when you can have avoided it.

Does your 1/4 acre pond have aeration, a source of running water like a creek, or is it a stock tank dependent upon rain or run-off? Ducks and geese can upset the balance of a pond very quickly if it's too small and inadequate turnover of fresh water isn't available. Are there trees around it? Geese can very very destructive. Even a couple. You will need to "goose-proof". I know this from personal experience. If you decide on geese, I would be happy to give you the benefit of my Lessons Learned through that bad, very bad experience before you get in too deep. I'm laughing about it now, but at the time it was A MAJOR TROUBLE. Happily, I am still married. And I still have geese. We no longer have a pond.

 

[JROOSTER]

Kathy pls share the pond story with all of us. I plan to have a pond and would love to know what to do to keep the pond and the geese.

 

[GeneJordan]

My pond depends on rainwater and run off. I would like to hear your story as well.

 

[JordanFamily]

Sebastopol geese can't fly away and are pretty eye candy.... Mine always stick close to my house and barn and never stray... They are also pretty docile for geese... I had mine free ranging and when you do that it saves alot on feed since they prefer to eat grass and other things they find.... Good Luck....

 

[RiverOtter]

Quote:
That little blurb DEMANDS that the rest of the story be told.

And stickied

 

[Silver Spring Waterfowl]

It's not a real short story. I'll tell you, but it'll be a day or two. We're cleaning up from the last two weeks of that "artic Blast" with its quaint "Wintry Mix". But there are some hard lessons we learned. Expensive lessons. RRooster, I will see if I have some links to give you to research before you start.

Enjoying an almost summerlike day here! Praise the Lord!

Stickied? I think I done been stickied for eternity on this one. It is the single most screwed-up thing I have ever accomplished. And Unaccomplished (how's that for making up words?)!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Most domestic geese don't fly, in fact the only ones I can think of that do are Canada geese, and you'd need a permit for those

Ducks--mallards and muscovies (and calls, but I wouldn't leave those out free anyway) can fly, but most others cannot. But mallards and muscovies will usually stay put.

In my experience though, if you want a bird that will stay on the pond and not camp out in your yard or on your porch, your best bet is ducks. My geese go to the pond several times a day but they only stay there a little while then end up back in the yard. The ducks stay on the pond unless there's a reason not to, such as snapping turtles and such. So you might also have to take that into consideration since I'm sure you're in gator country

 

[Goat_Walker]

My Chinese ( White and brown) are all good flyers. But they stick to the pond, coming up to the house when I whistle for feeding or locking up

I trained them when they were goslings to respond to a whistle, now they hear it and come running! I also have scovies that free range with the geese and everyone gets along fine. At first there were some problems with the geese being over protective but they get along great now! And the best part are scovies get big so can hold their own with the geese and they come in just about every color