Theres like, a buncha ducks over here...questions

[Tnballgirl]

Two questions, sort of related.
I have had several duck sagas of which I have posted. I started with a pair of mallards from Rural King 2 years ago.

Currently, the pond by my house in our residential neighborhood has 30 adult mallards and 8 week old babies. 2 susies are also on a nest. All descendants from the first 2 ducks.

What happens? They don't know to fly off to look for other ponds, and while none of the neighbors have complained about the gang of ducks that travel from yard to yard, its only a matter of time.

How many ducks is too many?

Also, I have a set of females who are coparenting one clutch of 8 (started as 14). And another set of susies sitting on one nest. Is this normal?

 

[Jenbirdee]

Hi, very pretty picture! Are all these ducks descendants of the first two you got from Rural King? Or did yours just sort of go out to the neighborhood pond and meet / mate with wild ones?

 

[Jenbirdee]

Sorry, I have another question do all these ducks sleep at night locked in a coop on your property? Or just kind of in the bushes by the pond? I’m surprised you don’t have any predators got them yet? That would certainly reduce the population in a hurry

 

[Tnballgirl]

Sorry, I have another question do all these ducks sleep at night locked in a coop on your property? Or just kind of in the bushes by the pond? I’m surprised you don’t have any predators got them yet? That would certainly reduce the population in a hurry

They are all directly from the first 2. We only have had geese fly in and visit and then leave except for one who stayed with a set of babies back in May, the mother duck wasn't feeling motherhood and the goose raised them stuck around until about 2 weeks ago and then flew off.

They are all loose. They have their cliques that stay together. To date, we have not lost any adult ducks to predators. The tiny babies get reduced by a few over a couple of weeks period of time, but most tend to make it. The only traumatic deaths have been the ones I incubated when I tried to move a nest and mom wouldn't sit, so I hatched them and had them in a broader in our garage and someone's sharpeis came into our garage and killed them all in a massacre. And one drake was intentionally hit by a FedEx driver(as recorded on our ring camera).

 

[Tnballgirl]

Sorry, I have another question do all these ducks sleep at night locked in a coop on your property? Or just kind of in the bushes by the pond? I’m surprised you don’t have any predators got them yet? That would certainly reduce the population in a hurry

 

[Jenbirdee]

pardon my french but,, what an %$^#!! evil fedex driver!

so you have a lovely pond there. if it's your private pond and you bought ducks and let them live there I guess thats ok but if its a neigborhood pond then your neighbors would have a right to complain, especially if your ducks are pooping on their property and digging mud puddles in their lawns...
your ducks dont know how to migrate because they were never taught by wild ducks, since you bought them and let them live out there..
I hope your climate is mild enough that they can survive winters comfortably out there?
do you feed them?
you might have to fence them in to your property if you get complaints

 

[Tnballgirl]

No complaints. The pond is half on outta property and half on the neighbors. They like the ducks. Lots of families with kids and they enjoy watching them. For now.....
So last winter there were 8-10. The winter before, 4. Everyone does ok. They keep a section of the pond open if we have a hard freeze. I do feed. I wouldn't say it's enough to keep them alive, they do that themselves. But I throw catfish food and cracked corn out and I do 3 or 4 2 ft lines about 6" wide of the ducking food for the babies and mommas. Anyway, from last year to this year we are up from about 10 to 30 plus babies. At this rate,.next year there will be over 100. Will they just keep on until they cover the entire pond or will nature have any control over it?

 

[JedJackson]

The only thing I can think to do is to trap some of them and put an ad up on Craigslist for free domestic mallards. The domestic part is important, because wild mallards are illegal to keep. Sooner or later predators will find this group, and the more of them there are, the more attractive they become to the likes of coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, owls, hawks and more.

 

[Coops Dad]

No complaints. The pond is half on outta property and half on the neighbors. They like the ducks. Lots of families with kids and they enjoy watching them. For now.....
So last winter there were 8-10. The winter before, 4. Everyone does ok. They keep a section of the pond open if we have a hard freeze. I do feed. I wouldn't say it's enough to keep them alive, they do that themselves. But I throw catfish food and cracked corn out and I do 3 or 4 2 ft lines about 6" wide of the ducking food for the babies and mommas. Anyway, from last year to this year we are up from about 10 to 30 plus babies. At this rate,.next year there will be over 100. Will they just keep on until they cover the entire pond or will nature have any control over it?

Yes, they'll overpopulate to the point that they'll start having nutritional deficiencies due to starvation, or a disease will run through them because of the overcrowding, or they'll attract predators. Or a neighbor's dog will conduct another massacre.

 

[Tnballgirl]

Yes, they'll overpopulate to the point that they'll start having nutritional deficiencies due to starvation, or a disease will run through them because of the overcrowding, or they'll attract predators. Or a neighbor's dog will conduct another massacre.

Do I start picking up eggs? I have a friend who will take a few for her pond. The only thing I worry about with trapping and relocation is they have established groups and I don't want to take from different groups....or does that even matter?