Probably a stupid question..

Clip their wing feathers, get them pinioned, or keep a net above them, you can also keep them as pets so they become tamer and probably won't fly off (at least that's what our ducks do ahahaha)

 

Get a larger meat breed (not Muscovies) and they won't be able to fly. It's no work to keep mine home, they stay in a 30" fence! However, I have happy ducks and most of them are too big and heavy to fly. Mostly it's not a problem.

 

The only breeds you need to be concerned with flying away are any of the bantams or minis, mallards, or muscovies. All the other domestic breeds are "too bottom heavy" to get more than 3 feet off of the ground. If you want to keep any of the small flying breeds you can clip their wings to prevent flight. Here is a guide to do that: Clipping duck and goose wings to prevent flight.
You can't clip the wings of show birds (it's a dis-qualifier) and you will have to securely fence any flighted birds you intend to show.

 

That is not a stupid question...I think its quite a good question. It shows your thinking ahead and your concern on how to care for them and not lose them.
Now if I were to make a post asking why one of my new ducklings has a brown bill with white nostrils...that would be stupid.

 

Quote:Even that is not a stupid question - it could lead into a very informative discussion on gentics !!

The only stupid question is one that is never asked...


Many of the domestic breed that are commonly kept are too heavy to fly. Over the years cross breeding and choosing for traits such as egg laying capacity /meat has meant that the ability to fly - instincts for migration , likelihood of going broody and other traits have been slowly bred out.

With so many differetn breeds availble with different traits they are bred for- you are sure to find some that you find appealing in appearance as well as usefull for eggs / bug- slug patrol or just as pets.

 

I have had ducks for about five years and I never clipped wings to prevent flying off. My ducks always came back (black calls), and it was really cool seeing them fly just like a wild duck. The other breeds could never get to far off the ground. For me, the bigger concern was predators, does flying off increase risk of being killed by hawks or protect them cause they are able to escape and hide. I let mine free range and my black call's ended up getting killed by predators(hawks) while on the ground. So for me, it didn't make a difference. I currently have silver appleyards and they must be too big for our local cooper hawks too bother with. I do miss my calls, they sure were silly and kept me company while I was working in the yard.

 

My flying Mallards stay right around the house even though I am on a large farm with lots of water. I raised them from babies along with some Pekins.

I think the secret to keeping them at home is feed!

 

I think ducks know where they have it good. All mine are Muscovy and non clipped... they all stay on the farm.. i mean sure the drakes cannot really take off to far because of their rather.. um, broad stature but my hens can sure fly.. they don't leave.. and all come back to the barn at dusk.