new duck pond!

[fowlobsessed1]

Hi everyone! I have been looking around on here at various threads on duck ponds (and I must say I am incredibly jealous of them!!!) and have decided to graduate from a kiddie pool to a poured concrete pool for my pair of khaki campbells. I did a remake pond for my mandarins last year, but they seem to not....destroy everything in their path like my khakis. They seem to think they are minature armless godzillas.

My question is..... if i have an 18x 18 pen for them and my trio of peafowl, will a pond 9x6 pond be enough room for them that I maybe can get plants to grow again? The pen looked like a jungle when the peafowl were in there....elephant ears, cold hardy banana trees... all of the tropical plants that are hardy up here in Pa....That all changed when I put the Godzillas in. They peeled the trees to death, stomped down the elephant ears (those suckers were a little over 5ft tall) and now, needless to say, i have a mud pit with some dead branches in, and an old christmas tree.

If i get hardier "duck approved" plants, and block it off until its established, do I have a chance? I would hate to think about selling the little terrors. They are the best mouse catchers I have ever had. I didn't even know that ducks ate mice. They have access to greens everyday. I shuffle them along to the fenced in garden...and might I say, they only eat the weeds. They haven't even touched my strawberries! At the end of they day, I love those little guys like my family.... ant ideas?

 

[TLWR]

are the ducks going to be in the 18x18 pen all the time?

If you want any plants to thrive, I'd plant it and fence it off from them and if you want them to snack on the bugs, only allow limited access to the plants you are trying to grow.

I have elephant ears, hostas, lilies, etc growing around the pond and they do fine (and one duck LOVES to sit on the lily), but they are also free range during the day

 

[aurora14]

Cant help with the plants, but the mental image of "miniature armless godzillas" just cracks me up!
Interested in what others say, cuz I have a koi pond planted with waterlilies, canna, iris, lizardtail, pickeral weed, elephant ears, and lots of other stuff. If my future ducks mess it up no big deal- bit would love for it to stay looking pretty..... They would have free range of entire back yard, plus a kiddie pool for swimming too.

 

[fowlobsessed1]

I had planned on them staying in the 18x18 pen. But i'll be darned if i know why they would destroy the pen...but leave the edible fruits and veggies in the garden alone.
TLWR, if I really establish hostas and lillies, would they have a chance against them? These guys peeled the bark right off of a five foot tree. I have raised mandarins and wood ducks, but I guess the "domestics" are .......more difficult to manage.