Should I get ducks?

[Marty1876]

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

everyone should be owned by ducks

 

[Kevin565]

everyone should be owned by ducks

 

[chickenmomma16]

Well, everyone has me sold on ducks. Now how to get my other half on board. It will come down to I think how easy he can build or how cheap he can get a house for them.

 

[Marty1876]

A few can love a dog house, if you only lock them up nights. They are very winter hardey, but they need protection from all preditors, especially at night. Dogs love them. The term "sitting duck" meaning your about to get killed, well, its apt. Ducks aren't good self defenders. If you have a secure back yard, and no stray dogs or other large animals can get in, your back yard will be fine. If you give them a house, just to go in, they will pretty much never go in it. I have to walk my ducks in at night, unless its light is in and they are used to going in. Mostly, by choice, they prefer outside.

 

[chickenmomma16]

It's semi secure... Fenced on 3 sides and our drive way that gets action throughout the day is on the 4th side. I've only seen one other dog besides my red heeler come onto the prop and he comes from the back fence from a neighbor who has chickens too, the dog only wants the cat food left over... Never bothered the chickens, should leave ducks alone too.

If I can't make it reasonable safe for them I will not get them. They are probably better off in their small pen then "sitting ducks" I don't like to see animals get needlessly killed if it could have been prevented.

On a side note, the only predators my landlord had problems with in the past was a weasel killing some chickens, theirs were 1/2 free range. The deer/elk bed down in our back pasture, I heard that was a sign of a safer zone? Not sure if its true or not...

 

[lmatvey]

Just a note about my ducks, our pond is a good 200 feet or so from the house and the ducks will come right up to the back door and would hang out on the deck all day if I didn't fence it off. Once they got used to me (I got them as babies) they felt intitled to come on "up". Really love them though.

 

[LissyB]

Loved my khaki campbell drake! Such a character! In my opinion, drakes are better than ducks... at least personality wise! If you get them you will have tons of fun!

 

[chickenmomma16]

I really want ducks now... I was thinking, what about locking them in the dog yard at night with a little shed for them? The gate to that yard is only 50ft away from the pond and has the smell of our heeler so may deter predators? Or at least our porch light is on at night. Might be safer than a house out by the pond... :/

 

[LissyB]

Probably.