Newbee to Wood Ducks and Teals

[Austringer]

Question: I am new to this forum and recently purchased two pairs of ducks. One pair of Wood Ducks and one pair of Ringed Teals. I have a large 30'X60' pond with weeds, cattails and all kinds of plants, beautiful! Will my duck stay, or will they leave later in the spring. Their wings are clipped for now, but should I re-clip them before spring to discourage migration? I have snapping turtles that get into my pond and have Red shoulder Hawks and Cooper Hawks. The big question is...... am I wasting my time if I do not net the entire pond from predators and get rid of the turtles? Will I lose my ducks, or will they breed for me. I can construct a small 10X10 pen behind my barn, covered with netting, but this will not be as natural as my large pond giving the ducks plenty of natural feeding material.

All replies welcome, for I need to get off on the right foot and not get discouraged from losing my ducks. I already lose baby chickens every time I turn them out to foxes, etc.

I live in in the NC mountains and my large pond which is spring fed does freeze in the winter, therefore what will the ducks do, and should I provide them with some type shelter, boxes, etc?

Thank you all.

Austringer-

 

[dumb_cluck]

If you want to keep them, better protect them. It's not Disneyland out there.

 

[silky_3699]

Quote:
x2

 

[Austringer]

I figured this would be the response, which I understand, but was afraid of. My dilemma now will be to covering the entire pond with netting. Any advice on who has the best netting for the price for such a large pond, structure? Placing a tall enough poll at the center of the pond to hold the nettting is going to be an engineering nightmare.

Thank you all for the replies.

Ed

 

[featherfinder]

Since you only have 4 ducks im sure that instead of fencing off the whole pond you could just build them their own enclosure and make them their own smaller pond. Alot of people here have completely covered enclosures that are smaller with ponds they have made.

 

[Dr. Todd]

You should have resolved your containment and predator concerns before introducing the birds to your pond.

If your ducks live long enough to regain the ability to fly they'll more than likely leave the area. These escapees make all of us keeping ducks look bad.

DT

 

[Austringer]

Give me a break!! This is one reason I many times stay away from forums, because of contentious people like you. Just so you know, my ducks are contained to a pen at this time and not at risk. I have been dealing with wild animals for longer than you have probably been alive, plus a retired law enforcement officer and US & Fish licensed falconer. So please do not tell me I give the duck community a bad name. You forget that ducks, particularly Wood Ducks are hunted by the thousands, for they are migratory birds, etc.... You are obviously an animal lover and not a realistic and practical person when it comes to animals. There is always risk associated with all animals. Do you not think wild Wood Ducks are not at risk, do you have any idea how many die within their first three weeks of life? I suspect you're a PETA card holder too!

I apologized to everyone else for my flame-out, but this is what gives forums a bad name and why lots of experienced animal people stay away from forums. I only asked some obvious questions to see the responses and what kind of crowd was here. I now know there is always one turd in the crowd.

Austringer -

 

[featherfinder]

Quote:
People here are just worried about the saftey of ducks and we see people who post alot who have no idea what they are doing and just release ducks on a pond and they get upset becuase they are taken the first night out. You never said that you already had a secure pen and set up for them for right now so they just jumped to being extra safe and mentioning that. This is a really good forum for ducks but we often are just extra safe like then when a situation is not fully explained because of what we have seen posted here before. Get to know us before jumping to conclusions about the BYC froum please. We do have alot of experienced animal people here to. They have helped me with my ducks on more than one occassion where they could have possibly died.

 

[Oregon Blues]

[[[......because of contentious people......]]]] Like yourself? More than one scoop of rude available here.

 

[gofasterstripe]

We could probably fill a whole feed barrel full of those scoops of rude.