I wish I had thought of keeping ducks!

[blueducklings]

I have a pair of blue runners & ordered it from Holderread Farm. ( He is the one that wrote the "guide to raising ducks.)
They are beautiful, silly and lay me blue green eggs in the morning.

Sometimes 3 from one duck!

 

[Wifezilla]

Sorry I meant hawks, owls, and flying predators. So sorry for your loss!

A gosshawk CAN carry off a full grown duck. I had one take out a buff mix. Smaller hawks will just decapitate your duck and eat the head. Owls will do the same thing. My ONLY losses to predators have been to the flying kind.​

 

[greyhorsewoman]

Smaller hawks will just decapitate your duck and eat the head. Owls will do the same thing.

Ditto. I forgot to mention the two the hawks got last week. We've been on a roll this spring. Mink, fox, hawk.. and who knows what else, has been pilfering our ducks and chickens the last several weeks. Happens. We go for years without much incidence and then it seems somebody sends out the memo. My ducks & chickens free range at our barn/pond (there are several hundred undeveloped/farm acreage behind us) ... we try to protect them as much as we can, but after ten years of living here, we know the inevitable. We'll try to take out the offending predators (except for the hawks, I just live with them) and then see if we can introduce a new flock.​

 

[vfem]

We sure did get lucky with our property! We have a 2 acre shared pond. A few home built on the pond have property that goes over the pond, and only we few houses get to fish it. We I decided to get ducks and I tried housing them on their own, I tried with the chickens but in the end the 3 of them went their own way and free range living on the pond 24/7. It gets messing around the pond but no so bad because they have so much space. They air-rate my lawn beautifully! I've noticed the weeds are down, and the grass comes back greener each season because of them!

I have to keep them out out out of my garden!!! They were not only tearing up and eating all my strawberry plants, but they were nesting in some of the beds crushing plants. So lots of little fences to keep them out.

We have a Muscovy and 2 Pekins, and their personality is amazing. Once you catch the female Pekin, she'll get comfy in your lap and eat out of your hand without a complaint. But her man will yell at you to let her go!

3 is my limit though.... because they free range like they do, we have what seems like an EASTER EGG hunt every week trying to find where they've been laying to enjoy the eggs.

Brats!

Anyways, if you get enough of an enjoyment out of them, and you have the patience and time to clean up after them... they're worth it!

 

[blueducklings]

Quote:
Yes, they are messy - they have liquid poop. And it can squirt quite a distance. Molting will turn your yard into the aftermath of a down comforter factory explosion. Ducks can get a bit rowdy, especially when they sense danger. Imagine your drunkest redneck aunt laughing out loud. THAT's gonna be what you hear at 3am.

Khaki Campbells and Runners can outlay some of the best chicken layer breeds. And the KC eggs will likely be bigger, average 0.5 ounces. Plus, you can charge more when you sell them. They only need a cat litter bin or kiddie pool to swim in and its a great bit of entertainment for the whole family when they do. Buy a dozen feeder goldfish on a Friday afternoon and you'll be entertained until sundown. Breeding season is an absolute hoot - ducks are NOT shy.

What would be the best duck breed that might be good for a moderately large backyard, good with children, small dogs, and chickens (ducks and chickens living together mass hysteria?)?

KCs and Runners are great fun and lovely. My Rouens are amazing, but they don't lay as often. I keep them mainly as the guard ducks of the flock. I'm also absolutely in love with my Silver/Blue Swedes. Great mammas, lay huge eggs and often.

Where in the heck does one purchase a duck?

Feedstores. Hatcheries. Folks like me who have ducks, though its not duckling season yet here.

 

[blueducklings]

Quote:
Yes, they are messy - they have liquid poop. And it can squirt quite a distance. Molting will turn your yard into the aftermath of a down comforter factory explosion. Ducks can get a bit rowdy, especially when they sense danger. Imagine your drunkest redneck aunt laughing out loud. THAT's gonna be what you hear at 3am.

Khaki Campbells and Runners can outlay some of the best chicken layer breeds. And the KC eggs will likely be bigger, average 0.5 ounces. Plus, you can charge more when you sell them. They only need a cat litter bin or kiddie pool to swim in and its a great bit of entertainment for the whole family when they do. Buy a dozen feeder goldfish on a Friday afternoon and you'll be entertained until sundown. Breeding season is an absolute hoot - ducks are NOT shy.

What would be the best duck breed that might be good for a moderately large backyard, good with children, small dogs, and chickens (ducks and chickens living together mass hysteria?)?

KCs and Runners are great fun and lovely. My Rouens are amazing, but they don't lay as often. I keep them mainly as the guard ducks of the flock. I'm also absolutely in love with my Silver/Blue Swedes. Great mammas, lay huge eggs and often.

Where in the heck does one purchase a duck?

Feedstores. Hatcheries. Folks like me who have ducks, though its not duckling season yet here.

Trystinn ,
Are you going to the show in Monroe? A bunch of BYCers will be there.​

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Yes, they are messy - they have liquid poop. And it can squirt quite a distance. Molting will turn your yard into the aftermath of a down comforter factory explosion. Ducks can get a bit rowdy, especially when they sense danger. Imagine your drunkest redneck aunt laughing out loud. THAT's gonna be what you hear at 3am.

Khaki Campbells and Runners can outlay some of the best chicken layer breeds. And the KC eggs will likely be bigger, average 0.5 ounces. Must be a typo error! Large chicken eggs are supposed run 24oz/doz or 2 ounce each 0.5/2=4 surelyit it doesn'take 4 ducks to replace 1 chicken, 2.5 ounces sounds about right Plus, you can charge more when you sell them. They only need a cat litter bin or kiddie pool to swim in and its a great bit of entertainment for the whole family when they do. Buy a dozen feeder goldfish on a Friday afternoon and you'll be entertained until sundown. Breeding season is an absolute hoot - ducks are NOT shy.

What would be the best duck breed that might be good for a moderately large backyard, good with children, small dogs, and chickens (ducks and chickens living together mass hysteria?)?

KCs and Runners are great fun and lovely. My Rouens are amazing, but they don't lay as often. I keep them mainly as the guard ducks of the flock. I'm also absolutely in love with my Silver/Blue Swedes. Great mammas, lay huge eggs and often.

Where in the heck does one purchase a duck?

Feedstores. Hatcheries. Folks like me who have ducks, though its not duckling season yet here.

 

[helios]

Buy a dozen feeder goldfish on a Friday afternoon and you'll be entertained until sundown.

A dozen don't last more than 30 seconds with my girls. I have started using a bigger water bin and they have to chase them more, so maybe a minute now. I gave them 30 goldfish a couple nights ago and stretched it out to about ten minutes by dropping the last twenty or so in the water one by one. I'm gonna drag the kiddie pool over to the pond this weekend and see how long they last with ten splashing ducks

Goldfish are my secret weapon to get the shy ones tamed a bit! The five year-old nephew and his friend came out last weekend and their jaws dropped when they watched the two boldest hens catch half a dozen out of a four cup glass measuring cup in ten seconds flat...all that's left is water swirling with gold scales. "Ducks eat fish?!" Gotta love urbanized kids

 

[blueducklings]

I just have to throw clover to my duckie pond and the ducks will have a blast trying to get every last piece first.

 

[Louise's Country Closet]

Imagine your drunkest redneck aunt laughing out loud. THAT's gonna be what you hear at 3am.

That is SO true and hilariously put!!

My Rouens are amazing, but they don't lay as often.

Really?! My Rouens lay every day, hmmm... I must have some freak ones, lol​