My DH says I can have them if they don't destroy our yard - Will They?

[Dances with Ducks]

Quote:
Would low fencing be possible? Most domestic ducks won't go over a two foot fence, so you could keep them away from the pond by either fencing in the pond or giving the ducks a large enough area you don't need to worry about the pond. At the bottom of my BYC page is a pic of how we keep our ducks in or out of our garden whenever we want.

 

[Chosen Chickens]

Okay new questions along with this:

If they are in a raised pen that has a built in small pool surrounded by chicken wire floor.... is this going to be okay if they are only let out for a couple hours a day?

Also, do different breeds make bigger messes then other? I am getting a pair of Mandarins and a pair of wood ducks this spring... their winds will be clipped... but I was wondering if some breeds are "less messy"

 

[Amiga]

Hmmm. Yabbies sound like what we call crayfish or crawfish. They are tiny freshwater "lobsters." Some call them langostinos.

Ducks can undo some gardening, but if you pay attention to what they are likely to do, you can harness their habits to get rid of weed patches and prepare and fertilize garden beds.

Fence, temporary or permanent, helps manage where they go.

Just like with kids, leave them to their own devices, and then observe what kind of mischief they can make, or pay attention to their nature and help them be a beautiful and productive part of the garden.

Fewer ducks, more attention, more space reduce the likelihood of problems. Also your sense of what a yard should look like matters. As has been said, if you want manicured, perhaps animals don't fit in the plan.

Setting aside their area, and limiting their access to more sensitive areas makes sense.

 

[horsejody]

I have one duck with my 19 chickens. She is like a wrecking crew. I thought that the chickens were bad about eating ornamental plants, but the duck is much worse. When free ranging last year she managed to eat an entire large sedum plant in about 2 hours. DH just about had a seizure. Thankfully, he likes the duck and forgave her.

 

[newchickmom09]

I will tell you what I did when we got our ducks. I have flowers bed all along my house and three hybiscus plants around the house also. I put up those little 1 1/2 foot tall metal tree/garden decorative fencing around all of the flowers beds, around the hybiscus, and around the strawberry beds. So basicaly anything that I didn't want them nibbling on or up rooting I put a fence around. The fence doesn't have to be high it just has to be sturdy enough so they can't push it over. Mine have never pushed over the fences. Now we also have big two level pond that we had beautiful koi in. We had four 12-16 in koi, one was silver, one white, one silver/white, and one typical koi color white and orange. We had them about 4 years. We also had goldfish, mollies, and guppies. Well, the ducks ate all of the mollies, guppies, and small goldfish. Then they learned they could catch the bigger goldfish about 6in long. They would just eat there fins off. When they were little ducks we could keep the water clean but as there got older our current pump just wan't enough. We found this out when our koi started deing off. Koi are very hardy when it comes to cold and hot weather but they are not hardy when it comes to dirt water. All four of our large beautiful koi died from the water being to dirty. So now the only thing we have in our pond is large goldfish about 8in long. Goldfish are about the only thing that can withstand there mess they make in the water. We had lilies, water lettuce, water iris things, umbrela plants, water banana plant, all kinds of water plants. Ducks love them all.

The ducks can't get up to the top level so that is where everything that I want to grow had to go.

So basicaly you can get away with ducks if you just put up a little fencing around your plants and pond. Just give them a little kiddy pool and a dog igloo to sleep in. With that you and the ducks will be happy.

Everyday I spray off the porches and walkways around the house because they poop everywhere they walk. I also give the yard a quick spray down every other day or at least 3 times a week just to keep down on the poo.

They really aren't that bad. They are just messy in there own way just like chickens are messy in there own way.

 

[chickensioux]

Quote:
The pen idea would be fine if they get to freerange too. But on the "messy" question-a duck is a duck is a duck. They just have certain lifestyles that scream MESSY. They dabble in any drop of water and poo alot.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Humph....my duck won't touch anything on the ground. She's never ate anything in my yard!

 

[19hhbelgian]

I must say, I feel lucky to have my ducks! Even when we lived in our cabin and had a creek 10 feet from our house, and we had about 30 +\\- ducks and geese, I never had issues with them eating the landscaping. They would come up the bank and eat next to one bed, and they would walk through the landscaping all the time - no issues. They were 24/7 free-range, and we had no fencing around anything to keep them out. The only thing my gander ever got into was the cap for the trailer plug on the truck. He would squawk at his reflection in the bumper of our truck while his lady was setting, and wound up nibbling the plug cap so that it was hanging by a thread

. Yeah well! Even my current ducks are fine. We have 2 big pekins and a pair of silkie ducks, who are small. They are not free ranging 24/7, and the only thing they've made a mess of is the coop. I did put up a bit of fencing around one of my flower beds, but that was to try and deter the dogs and chickens from trampling my plants and spreading the mulch everywhere it shouldn't be

 

[95yj]

a couple ornamental mandarins won't screw up your yard that much, they'll probably just chill around the pond. the nitrogen levels of your pond would shoot up. you might need to upgrade the filter. My dad always used to talk about the time he was on a business trip at a really nice hotel with a koi pond and beautifully landscaped garden in the lobby, and their was a pair of extremely tame mandarins that lived in the pond/garden and begged the guests for food.