if i realse my duck, will it come back next year??

[IwannaBEaMERMAID]

me and my dad have some, well 5 ducks that live in a 12x12x8 habitat

anyways i want to get more from a hatchery and my dad said yes but anyways ~again~ if i raise the new ducklings until they're adults and let them go to migrate, will they come back next year....some with mates???

the breeds of ducks that we got from the hatchery were

buff
khaki campbell
blue swedish
black east india
and mallards

: bun

OMG PEOPLE IM NOT REALEASING THEM JUST TO GET MORE!!!! JUST A QUESTION DONT GO ALL CRAZY !!!!!!

AND ITS NOT LIKE I DONT WANT THEM, I LOVE MY DUCKS !!! CHILL

 

[Katy]

The odds of them making it in the wild are next to none. All but the mallards are domesticated and don't migrate. They more than likely will be some other critters' supper.

 

[barredrockmama]

I agree, if released those breeds would be coon food. We had mallards that flew off in the winter when I was young, but I think we only had one that ever returned.

 

[Goat_Walker]

I honestly doubt they will migrate. You're stuck with em. thell stick around. I mean you might end up with a wild drake or even a hen comming around but i doubt youll have them fly off.

 

[chickensioux]

I didn't think Khaki Campbells even flew. Mine don't

 

[ChickenToes]

The only ducks that you listed that can fly are the Mallards. All the rest will more than likely die, and it is illegal to release domesticated ducks into the wild. The Mallards may also die because they are used to having their food provided for them, not having to go look for it. If they do survive, their chances of coming back next year are next to nothing.

 

[nettie]

most of your breeds don't fly... you can not release domestic ducks into the wild and expect them to live for very long... they wouldn't even make it a year. to release your birds into the wild would be down right animal cruelty. it would be like throwing a three year old child out into the woods and expecting it to come back next year unscathed... it's just not possible.

ducks are a long term commitment. if you are not up to keeping them the 6-10 years they can live, it's best to rehome them using craigslist or here on byc. but rehoming your ducks just to get new babies is not, well, responsible. if one is not responsible to care for the ducks they currently own, getting new ones is just plain not right. I hate to be harsh, but it breaks my heart to see domestic ducks out in ponds and dumped in the wild because they've grown up and careless owners don't want to deal with them anymore....

 

[Mahonri]

Summer of 1981 I lived in east central Indiana. There I met a farmer who dedicated part of his farm to wildlife. He had a little man made pond/lake that looked like it was in a total natural setting surrounded by woods on all sides. It was a significant part of his acreage. The large pond was stocked with fish and then he had mallards that lived there. Early on he had a pen for them and he made natural looking nests for them not far from shore, but far enough that the coons wouldn't swim out to them. He told me that he started out with a group of 8 to 10 and that after a couple of years he decided that he would let them go in the early fall. He said that three or four of them came back with mates the following spring and that after they reproduced, the group continued to keep him stocked in mallards. Those ducks would fly around the countryside and in the evening you could watch them all fly back to his little pond and some of them would come to stay in an enclosure that he would lock up against predators each evening. It was pretty cool. Wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes.

 

[ImaChickenTenderNowMa]

most of your breeds don't fly... you can not release domestic ducks into the wild and expect them to live for very long... they wouldn't even make it a year. to release your birds into the wild would be down right animal cruelty. it would be like throwing a three year old child out into the woods and expecting it to come back next year unscathed... it's just not possible.

ducks are a long term commitment. if you are not up to keeping them the 6-10 years they can live, it's best to rehome them using craigslist or here on byc. but rehoming your ducks just to get new babies is not, well, responsible. if one is not responsible to care for the ducks they currently own, getting new ones is just plain not right. I hate to be harsh, but it breaks my heart to see domestic ducks out in ponds and dumped in the wild because they've grown up and careless owners don't want to deal with them anymore....

While I completely agree that it's awful when people do that I don't think that's what the original poster meant I think he was more just wondering if it was possible to raise some ducks and allow them to migrate like normal and then if they would come back or not, I actually found this post because I was wondering the same thing I've been thinking about getting some mallards but I know they typically migrate so I'm wondering if they would end up taking off on me and migrating with others and then come back to what they know as their home in a few months or if I would need to clip their wings or keep them in a closed off coop or something to prevent them from taking off for the winter I plan on raising them as some occasional meat birds, would it not be best to allow them to free range and forage my property and then come winter they would naturally migrate with others and then come back right?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Domestic Mallards are not wild. They have not been taught by a wild Mallard mama to know how to make it in the wild.