I don't know know anything about ducks, but....

[joskt0204]

We have a pond, about 100' across, full of frogs and with some fish. We had some wild ducks last year, but they only visited this year, then moved on. (I don't know if that was a reaction to the horses, the dogs, us, or something else.) I'd love to have ducks in the pond, but I don't want to care for them the way I do my chickens (herding them into a coop at night, feeding treats, etc), mostly because the pond is a bit of distance from the house (and I already have dogs, horses, chickens, a cat, and then there are the kids....) So, can you get adult ducks and just put them out? What exactly do they need? Will domesticated ducks migrate? I'm in east TN.

 

[ZoeS95423]

If you just plan on dumping them in your pond DONT GET DUCKS.

They need a safe enclosure at night, and No they will not migrate, domestic ducks Cant fly.

They need to be "herded in" at night, unless trained to go in themselves. They need to be fed flock feed, they need to be kept as your chickens, you cant just dump them in your pond.

 

[dianaross77]

Some domestic sold mallards migrate but I wouldn't count on it. You could build a floating duck house for them.

 

[Fawkes]

They need to be kept like your chickens. They need a secure enclosure for night time or else they will probably die quickly from predators. Even ducks that can fly are easily killed by foxes, raccoons, and coyotes at night.

They need to be fed duck food, they won't be able to just live off the land.

 

[cat1994]

My neighbors have about the setup I think you are looking for. They buy about 20 ducklings making sure to never get white individuals as they are easier seen by birds of pray and to stick with lighter weight breeds so they can get of the ground to fly away from predators. Then they raise them making sure not to tame them a much as possible so the ducks won’t come to depend on them as adults. Then when they get big enough to live on their own they let them go at their pound and never mess with them again. The ducks live out their lives as best they can, they get eaten and sick but my neighbors never do any thing to them. It is up to them to find food and shelter on the 97 acres my neighbors own. Sometimes the ducks manage to raise lil ones, even half breeds from the wild ducks that come over. They keep the duck population up for a while, for yrs even, but my neighbors always go out and buy about 20 more ducklings when their numbers get down to about 4 or 5 birds. As long as the pound doesn’t freeze over all the way the ducks make it through the winter all right and don’t try and fly away, they are not feed during the winter either. My neighbors also have a pair of evil geese that serve as guardians of the ducks, even adopting hurt or sick ones or any orphaned ducklings until they can live on their own. The geese really help when something comes along and tries to get a duck, they go crazy and then my neighbors go out and shot whatever is it. Hope this helps

 

[joskt0204]

That sounds a bit too rough for me. As I said, I don't know anything at all about ducks. You see them in ponds all over around here, with no duck houses in evidence, so I didn't know how much care they require. I like the floating duck house idea, but how do you teach them to go in, if you can't go where the house is? I just finished gathering chickens out of trees, so I'm familiar with the herding them to bed issues (two go right in the coop, but the other two are independent types who like trees). Feeding them isn't a problem at all. I already feed the birds, hummingbirds, and wild turkeys, in addition to all of my pet critters.

Obviously, I need to do a lot of research first. I wish our wild ducks had stayed here to raise their babies. I really think one of my horses disturbed her nest. There were eggs in the cat tails along the bank, but we were never sure if they were duck, turtle, snake, or something else eggs. They were big.

 

[EmAbTo48]

Ducks are great pets! I think if you really want ducks you should want to take the time to care for them as your pets.

The 4 ducks I have were from a couple that do what you want to do. They feed them(have bowls by the trout creek), dog houses for shelter, and leave them alone. They told me they lose at least 4 a month!!! They have 2 females that continue to breed and hatch ducklings yearly. But that's nothing compared to how many they keep losing.

The floating houses are more used for a nature reserve people put up to help the wild ducks out. Its not a safe thing for domesticated ducks.

Anyways, the 4 ducks I have are not tame to the touch (they are getting better they don't run anymore from me when its feeding time) they seem to like to forage more then eat the duck food, they love our ponds, eat fish and are very much more independent because of how they were raised. BUT they still come to the coop everynight for a warm safe bed, and they depend on me for food when weathers crappy!

It is very possible to get them to go to the coop at dark like chickens. (Mine do without a problem)

Maybe build a coop down by the pond, keep food, water in the pen??? Maybe you can rig some kind of door that only will allow the ducks in? I think what your looking for is possible, but no matter what you will have to do some work! And maybe more work then your looking for.

 

[dianaross77]

Here is a thread for a floating duck house. I personally would put it farther out in the water to make it harder for predators to reach.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=50793

 

[fisharescary]

If you just want them for the sake of admiring them on the pond, you could always volunteer to let rehabilitated wild ducks from a rescue get released on your pond.

 

[jdywntr]

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Its not appropriate to just put domestic ducks on a pond. As for hoping they migrate, don't count on it. If you end up with a large domestic population that is breeding with the wild population the state may get invovled (IE Muscovy in Florida).