New at raising ducks and have questions!

[Crazy Maizie]

My ducks are hella smart! I adopted 2 female muscovies 3 months ago, we guess they were about 6 months old at the time. They come when they're called, they clearly know the meaning of several words like go home, swimming pool, jump, treat and slug. Oh, and "squirrel" ... I regularly encourage them to chase off the obese squirrel that sucks down their food. They knock on the door when they want some attention. If I don't answer the front door right away, they walk around the deck to the other side of the house and tap on my sliding glass doors.

I agree. Muscovy are definitely smart. But, I only have muscovy, so maybe all ducks are smart.

 

[CDitzel]

1. Yes they can. I have pekins, you can see them in the signature below. They all free range. They all come back to the coop at night. Take sleep on the ground, so they sleep under it.

2. Mindful of straw in plastic milk crates. That's where they lay most of their eggs. Ducks that free-range are really really stupid dr. Ducks that don't free-range are even more stupid. However ducks that free-range have much more property under which to dig a little hole leave an egg and promptly forget it exists.

3. You can't keep ducks from playing in the mud. It's not possible. Cocci is just something you have to accept the possibility of. Thankfully, it has not been an issue for me, yet. But it's present in the environment everywhere.

4. At least for my pekins, a kiddie pool is not too high. My hatchlings are in it at 4 weeks and able to get in and out on their own. My full grown are using a I don't know 60000 gallon pond we dug. On the other hand, you have to be willing to pick up and dumped out the kiddie pools every 2 or 3 days. Once a week is not going to cut it. Yes you're stupid Ducks, I think I mentioned above, we'll have to lie swim in green green water. They will come out stained by it, and act like it's the greatest thing ever. You may not be able to control Cocci in your environment, but you can avoid algae-covered Birds.

5. All Flock is a great choice.

We dump and refill our kiddie pool every evening with 2 ducks.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and reading my earlier post, I see the problem of using speech to text. That's almost unintelligible. Sorry all.