Planting for duck grazing

[allergymama]

We have about an acre in between our duck run and pond that was recently dug up to put geothermal lines in. It's adjacent to a "weed" field and wasn't part of the lawn proper to start with, but it needs to be something other than mud. We thought about planting it with something the ducks would find yummy. We thought about clover, but wondered if maybe there was a better choice for the ducks. TIA

 

[clairalucypipa]

For my ducks I have about an acre of a mix with grass and clover, their favourite thing to do is to play in the grass and find bugs in the soil.I find that having ducks on our lawn helps because they help fertilize the lawn and they arriate the lawn when they dig their little holes. Hope this helps!

 

[dotporter]

This year I planted different squash plants on the edges of my yard, just to see if they'd grow without maintenance. Many of the squash plants grew through the grass (the grass didn't get very high with the ducks and chickens eating it) and then the ducks LOVED eating the butternut and acorn squashes later this summer. I didn't pick the squash or anything... they'd just wait till one was ripe and chow down. So, whichever ground cover you come up with, you might want to try a few squash plants around the edges. They did NOT eat the hubbard squash or the pumpkins. They seem to only like the ones high in sugar.

 

[chickimoma]

Did you ever get any information about planting for ducks around your pond? I just got 10 ducklings that are now about 1 month old. I was trying to figure out what I could grow in water that they would enjoy nibbling on but, if well enough established, could with stand their grazing or that I could easily and routinely replace. One thing would be to use flats of spouts. Another would be riparian grasses like Common Spikerush or Nebraska Sedge. I don't know what else. I don't have a pond but I have a cattle trough and an old clawfoot bathtub outside I use as a fountain. They like rummaging in the grass and the veggie garden but I want to provide water plants. I throw malabar climbing spinach vines into their water tub and they LOVE it!.
Thanks