Question on free ranging ducks and wandering

[keeperofthehearth]

We plan on raising ducks this year and we'd like to free range them. We need to decide where to put the duck house for nighttime security.
Just how FAR do ducks typically range when they are loose? We live in the country but it's a neighborhood where we are each on a couple of A's each for the most part. We just don't want our ducks flying/or walking over to the neighbors nice manicured lawn.

Any input would be appreciated!!

Oh yes, one more question.

Would distance ranging be breed specific? We plan on raising Muscovy but may change our minds depending on a number of things. Thanks!

 

[Wifezilla]

Great question. Since I have a fenced suburban lot and my ducks can't fly, this isn't an issue for me, but it would still be good to know. Let's hope someone smart wanders by.

 

[byrandom]

We have two 'scovys that are free rangers. They live with our goats, groom them, eat flies.. you know, do what ducks do! They have never been seen off of our property (not saying that it doesn't happen!), and sleep ontop of the goat-house. Our neighbors have a big pond right next to our property lines, and no one has seen them over there either.

They are usually in our garden, in the goat pen, or cleaning up around the chicken coops...

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Thanks Josh,
How far is that pond fm you? We will only have about an acre between us, tall grasses and some trees.

 

[byrandom]

The pond couldn't be more than 300-400 yards away from the chicken coop that they were on top of this morning (12ft tall).

The guy that I purchased my original ducks from told us to clip their wing feathers a little longer than "normal". This would only allow them to "jump fly" into trees and such. To stay away from predators, etc. We didn't do that....


We have 1 drake and 1 hen. The hen follows the drake everywhere, and we raised him from a 2 day old duckling. He was abandoned at the Vet clinic I used to work at, so I'm guessing that he was a wild duck.

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Thanks Josh. We do have coon, fox and coyote around here as well as large hawks and a few eagles. Still, we'd like to try free ranging unless we experience too much duck loss or too much garden grazing.

 

[byrandom]

You're very welcome...

We also have foxes, racoons, opossums, stray dogs, feral cats, mountain lions, coyotees, and coy dogs. But, like I said, they live in with our goats. Our goats live with a mama donkey and her baby that she's teaching to hate/kill predators without discrimination.

Lastnight while we were gathering up our newest goat mama and her babies to put them in the barn, our jenny started braying for about a minute straight (this is at about 10:30 pm). A few seconds later we heard the yips and howls of the coyotees. Hopefully she was telling them not to come any closer! LOL

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

My ducks don't go farther than 200' from their house. Ever. They have a pond on one end of the yard, and a little spring-hole on the other, and they wander between the two... they're swedish/mallard mixes.