offered free ducks- should I ?

[lethalfire]

Thank you, I am excited. Waiting is always the hardest part for me LOL.

 

[emmajane07]

Oh, I hear ya! I'm getting 2 more ducks and 6 more chickens early September. Can't come soon enough.

 

[lethalfire]

Oh they are beautiful!!! I'm glad I am not alone, here I was worrying about the "off" season and me having silkie chicks and getting ducks lol but the ducks atleast are older. The silkies will hopefully be plenty big enough before it starts getting cold here but the weather this summer, who knows!

 

[Going Quackers]

I started with ducks then moved onto to chickens, but ducks are still my top choice and still hold the highest headcount... barely lol but the scovies have a good way of upping that. Main difference between ducks and chickens is the mess, ducks are wet, chickens are dry.. wet brings mud and ducks love to play, drill into mud. That said nothing beats ducks for bug control and general health.

For taming down, most ducks can be made personable how close or tame will vary somewhat, i have experience with many ages here and generally i find younger birds will tame more easily. As for Pekin i own a half dozen of them, real perky ducks, loud though lol i have 5 females and 1 drake.. they even came into lay at a reasonable aging 4.5-5mths...

a quick shot of some of them..


while i keep both chickens and ducks i don't house them together, people do it's just not something i prefer to do due to the differences.. roosting vs non, water with food and spillage etc..

 

[emmajane07]

Your mud holes look like mine

 

[lethalfire]

I started with ducks then moved onto to chickens, but ducks are still my top choice and still hold the highest headcount... barely lol but the scovies have a good way of upping that. Main difference between ducks and chickens is the mess, ducks are wet, chickens are dry.. wet brings mud and ducks love to play, drill into mud. That said nothing beats ducks for bug control and general health.

For taming down, most ducks can be made personable how close or tame will vary somewhat, i have experience with many ages here and generally i find younger birds will tame more easily. As for Pekin i own a half dozen of them, real perky ducks, loud though lol i have 5 females and 1 drake.. they even came into lay at a reasonable aging 4.5-5mths...

a quick shot of some of them..


while i keep both chickens and ducks i don't house them together, people do it's just not something i prefer to do due to the differences.. roosting vs non, water with food and spillage etc..

Oh wow, what a beautiful picture, the one flapping it's wings looks so majestic. I am worried about the mess, not so much outside but the mess of the "coop". I do agree in the fact that I have already showed my hubby what I want for the duck coop because I think it would be easier to keep them separate from the chicken coop. I think I will try the having their food and water "outside" of the coop to see if that helps some of the mess. (of course not til they are allowed to free range) with them being 3-4 months old how long should I keep them in the coop so they know where home is? My chickens were 2 months when I got them and after a week (honestly they probably would have caught on before that) they were returning without any problems, with the exception that some nights they think they can rest on top of the coop rather then going inside lol.