Mum wants a duck egg

[Weirdness555]

Hello,

So my mum bought me the brinsea mini advance as an early xmas present. Now she's gone broody and she's always wanted ducks, she wants to get an egg and hatch it. I'm thinking more than one would be better, am I right?

Next, can anyone give us any duck advice? We're in the late planning stages of chickens, we have quail, but I really don't know much about ducks. We have a great local pet shop who will order in duck food if necessary, do they eat chick crumb ad ducklings, or do they need specialised food? As adults they'd get whatever specialised duck food we can order, I know that some exists.

Housing: Do they come home to roost like chickens? Could we shut them up at night without an argument? Or is it better if they're kept confined all day as they won't go back into a pen overnight? We have a river at the bottom of the garden and if we could we'd like to let the ducks out on it to swim during the day, it's big enough that they'd be safe from cats and foxes, and at night we would shut them in a coop if they will let us, but even if they would come back to a wire run over night we could keep them safe.

We're in rural England, so predation isn't a huge problem, as the foxes around here stay out of the way and mostly eat the local pheasants and cats would be the biggest issue.

We have seen some small duck houses that we could put at the bottom of the garden, and the alternative seems to be normal chicken coops.

We have wild ducks in the area, would there be any problems with this? I can appreciate that disease might be an issue, is there some way to prevent this? Also, we were told that we could keep ducks with the wild ducks as long as they were the size of a wild mallard or bigger, to stop them getting bullied, is that right?

We will also have ponds in the garden (once it's finished) which our ducks could swim on if they couldn't swim on the river, but we know wild ducks frequent the garden ponds along the river.

Finally, if all this isn't a huge barrier to duck keeping, are there any breeds you could recommend? So far I like silver appleyards, and I really like call ducks but I think they might be a bit small. We also like pekins, but would they also be too small and delicate?

Thanks for your help

 

[Weirdness555]

I don't mean pekins, I mean manderins, have just read about them, maybe not a good choice. How effective is wing clipping? Is it quite easy to do? Are our ducks likely to fly away if they can? If they couldn't fly and we let them out on the river I'd worry more about cats and foxes getting them...

 

[Weirdness555]

Why hasn't anyone helped me with my duck problem!

 

[ducksinarow]

Eggs are hard to hard. Good luck getting just one to hatch on your first try. My first try I put in 20 and got only 6. Ducks also need other ducks. One would be very lonely.

I have 9 cats they are not a problem here. I free range. There duck house is in a dog pen with a shade tarp over it. Never had a loss. We have raccoons, skunks and opossums. I highly recommend a dog pen with a house that can be locked up at night. The tarp keeps the owls and hawks out. We have both in our yard from time to time. I don't wing clip my campbells they mainly stay around here and help them get away from the neighbors dogs.

 

[insanity]

I'm new to ducks but I'll try to help. I went with Muscovy because they are quiet, big enough to defend themselves, and friendly. With the wing clipped they aren't supposed to fly much and aren't inclined to crossbreed if given a choice.I feed mine meat bird crumble like the breeder suggested. They go in the coop at night without a fuss and so far get along well with the chickens out in the run.Good luck, I hope someone with more experience helps you.

 

[clarkscluckies]

I have 5 ducks, 1 chocolate Indian Runner, 1 white and fawn Indian Runner, 1 Cayuga, 1 Black Swedish and 1 Pekin. These ducks are domestic and do not fly above 1 foot off the ground as their wings are to small for their bodies. The sleep in the coop at night with the chickens and get along very well. Right before dusk they quack to get into the chicken pen. The Pekin duck is very large about twice the size as the others. They all eat laying pellets and forage all day on the property and in the yard. We have 2 kiddie pools for them to swim in as ducks love to be clean and need plenty of water when they eat. My first 2 ducks have been laying, and 1 of the new ones has started to lay.

 

[Weirdness555]

We will have a chicken coop which is apparently big enough for 20 hens, but the run is only big enough for about 8, would that be ok? If we just let the ducks out in the day and let them back in at night? I don't like runners much, to be honest they look a bit freaky, sorry! I don't want to insult your ducks XD I think the ones we've looked at are all small and could fly, but if they won't fly away then I think that we would leave them unclipped, so they could escape from things. We don't think noise will matter, as if anyone complains we'll just say it was the wild ducks

We could hatch up to 7, but would 4 be enough? And will we need to have any specific male/female ratio?

This may sound stupid, but would the chickens mind if we let the ducks out and not them?

We really like calls, does anyone have any experience with them?

I thought we might need more than one, thanks ducksinarow However I think 20 might be a stretch

 

[insanity]

The breeder I got mine from recommended no less than 2 so I got 3.The extra was just in case something happened.They do better if they aren't alone. I got 1 male, 1 female, and 1 unknown.As far as the chickens being jealous of the ducks free roaming, my hens aren't that smart.

 

[Weirdness555]

Well if we try 4 eggs to start with, that should get us enough

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well if we try 4 eggs to start with, that should get us enough

Very good idea