Six Ducks

[DanAndQuails]

After we lost our female khaki campbell duck, we got three more ducks. So now we have two male mallards, one male khaki campbell, and the new ones: a male and a female cayuga, and a female buff duck. The mallards are top ducks, they are not happy about the new additions. The new three (cayugas and buff) are very nervous acting too. It seems that six is a lot---the eat more, they make more of a mess, they make more noise. Any recommendations as far as cutting the costs of feed? What about bedding? We use straw now, but I was thinking that maybe there's something cheaper or more efficient at absorbing messes/odor. What about the ducks acting nervous? Is there any way to help them get used to me, and maybe be a little friendlier? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[CityFarmer202]

Let them run around!! Ducks love bugs and slugs and shouldn't be a vegetarian. i cut our feed bill almost in half by letting them run around our yard, plus the poop was distributed over a large area so it was less smelly. i used pine shavings and straw, and cleaned the coop out once a week. because they free range, i give them cracked corn and oyster shell at night, which i wouldn't do if they were not getting all the bugs and grass.

As for taming them, i would just spend as much time as we could spare sitting in the coop hand feeding them and talking to them, showing them i wasn't going to hurt them. We had 2 Cayugas girls, a khaki Campbell girl (which disappeared the evening before thanksgiving with no signs of a predator...suspicious), a pekin boy, and a rouen pair. I would also keep an eye on them with 4 boys and 2 girls, they are going to get bred alot and get pretty stressed out if u don't give them a break With only 2 boys, our 4 girls where getting pretty annoyed and we had to put the boys in the coop for part of the day to give the gals a break

Good Luck!!! I absolutely love ducks!

 

[DanAndQuails]

Thanks! The male mallards are actually separate from the other four, so the ratio is one male to one female (I know there should ideally be more females, but six is enough for now). I will definitely consider letting them free range again, once I'm home for the summer especially. I didn't want them alone outside their pen during the day after losing the khaki to a predator. I'm going to spend more time with these ducks now that summer is here. Wish me luck!