To Duck or not to Duck - Nearby Neighbors

[AdventureChicken]

Good morning, everyone!

I live on a small lot (1/2 acre) and just checked and legally am allowed up to three POULTRY - which is "any domesticated fowl...etc etc." But it pretty clearly would allow for ducks, which I didn't realize until today. BUT there is a provision against roosters (if one keeps chickens) and a general noise/nuisance provision.

SO.

I would be interested in female ducks for eggs. In reading up a bit, it sounds like the females are the louder sex. Are they louder than hens? If so, is it a large difference? And are there quieter breeds (besides muscovy - wanting an egg-laying breed).

I am initially liking the idea of cayugas or runners. Pros/Cons/differences?

TIA for any and all help and education!!

 

[Callender Girl]

My experience with runners is that the girls talk quite a bit, and the boys just mumble. I don't think the runners are loud; they are loose in the side yard all day, and I don't hear them through the closed windows in winter -- unless the goose girls decide to "herd" everybody and cause general chaos.

Although they take a winter egg break, my runners lay good-sized eggs and are fairly prolific layers.

One plus with runners is that they possess incredibly bad flying skills. My best "flyer" could get as high as a four-foot run -- for about two seconds. Another plus is that their strange physique makes them entertaining to watch when they walk/run.

Best wishes with whatever ducks you get. Ducks are great!

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

What is your neighborhood like? It is like normal suburban style? More rural ish outskirts? Buttoned up community?

My experience is limited but I will tell you, birds are all different. My Welsummer chickens are considerably louder than my Australorps (which are pretty much The Perfect Chicken, j/s). Our Welsh Harlequin ducks are beautiful, but noticeably louder - when they want to be - which is not all the time, by any means. Mostly it's jusy cute little muted honks, unless they are displeased, in which case they Will let you know? Personally, I find their chatter to all be part of the appeal of having them around.

Moreso than noise, I would be concerned about logistics. Do you have perimeter fencing and a pond? That's ideal because ducks need their water to splash in, and they root around in the grass and make holes, and the mud spreads all over the pen and kills the grass. So you'd need to be constantly moving their enclosure and refilling water tubs which is all a big pain in the rumpus. I saw a cool pen design with a French drain and rock / gravel floor that could be hosed off, if you are interested in looking at a duck pen setup like that, might keep the mud and destruction down. I also saw a Carolina Coop design with a dug out drain for the duck dipper that you could drain like a bathtub and refill, but most people are probably not going that crazy with it. Ducks' needs are different than chickens, so that's something you would need to *seriously* consider, and set up ahead of their arrival, ideally.

I would ask why specifically you want ducks? I mean besides the obvious lol. As wonderful as they are, my experience has been that chickens are considerably easier to keep and maintain their living quarters, (depending how you do it.) There are lots of cute little coops that would accommodate 3 chickens that you could easily add a bump out for a run, or put a covered fence around it, and even potentially keep it all lightweight enough to move around your yard so it doesn't get too badly destroyed. Either way, you'll want to give some serious thought to what your setup will be.

IMHO, three is an annoying number - I don't know where someone starting out is just getting three chickens, unless you get started pullets, or buy from a local neighbor. As in, tractor supply has a four chick minimum, and almost anywhere that ships will require you to buy more, so If it were me, I would do a cute little chicken set up, and grab (four) little cuties from TSC once the chick days start up again, and leave it at that. I guess you could get six to split with a friend if you really want to follow the rules! Lol

But if you really have your heart set on ducks, I'm sure it can be done. I do recommend the Welsh Harlequin ducks, they are just gorgeous and lay a creamy white egg, or Magpies are supposed to be excellent layers of more colorful eggs, although Indian runners are supposed to be good layers, too. I think it all comes down to personal preference. There is no duck that is going to be quiet 100% of the time, and unfortunately, I think potentially tearing up the yard could present more of a problem with neighbors than noise.

 

[Colley12]

I agree with the noise and mess. I have runners that were new to me this summer. I have a duck house and then they free range in our yard all day. Our lawn is destroyed.....it wasn't so bad until our wet winter. The mud holes, perfectly beak sized that began to litter the yard. We will be replanting our yard here at the end of February, beginning of March. They will be sectioned off to one side of the house that they hang out alot in anyways. And they poop....alot! We have an easy deck to hose off, so we do that frequently...but yes they are pretty messy.

Mine are only loud when they know treats are coming, first thing in the morning and in the afternoon. Otherwise, it is more of a chatter. I haven't had any complaints from the neighbors...they probably think it's crazy and maybe cool to hear ducks in the neighborhood but no one is bothered by them, or at least has told me they are.

After all that, I LOVE my ducks!!! Absolutely love them, they have such a personality and love interacting with us and we can't even hold ours...getting closer with petting, hoping to work up to holding.

My husband even loves them, despite their mess, which says alot since I was the one pushing for them.

 Good luck with your purchase and start up! So much good info on this website!

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

I agree with the noise and mess. I have runners that were new to me this summer. I have a duck house and then they free range in our yard all day. Our lawn is destroyed.....it wasn't so bad until our wet winter. The mud holes, perfectly beak sized that began to litter the yard. We will be replanting our yard here at the end of February, beginning of March. They will be sectioned off to one side of the house that they hang out alot in anyways. And they poop....alot! We have an easy deck to hose off, so we do that frequently...but yes they are pretty messy.

Mine are only loud when they know treats are coming, first thing in the morning and in the afternoon. Otherwise, it is more of a chatter. I haven't had any complaints from the neighbors...they probably think it's crazy and maybe cool to hear ducks in the neighborhood but no one is bothered by them, or at least has told me they are.

After all that, I LOVE my ducks!!! Absolutely love them, they have such a personality and love interacting with us and we can't even hold ours...getting closer with petting, hoping to work up to holding.

My husband even loves them, despite their mess, which says alot since I was the one pushing for them.

 Good luck with your purchase and start up! So much good info on this website!

Also considering ducks. I don’t want to hijack the thread, so hopefully OP is okay with this, but do you have any pictures of your destroyed lawn? Just wondering since my mother in law’s idea of “destroyed” would include our current back yard, because we have dogs who dig some, etc. Like are free-ranging ducks (in a 1/4 acre fenced area) going to be worse than chickens and dogs?

Also, are there breeds that are happy with a kiddie pool? Or would all need to be on a lake or something? We would be converting a chicken setup if we decided on ducks.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

Also considering ducks. I don’t want to hijack the thread, so hopefully OP is okay with this, but do you have any pictures of your destroyed lawn? Just wondering since my mother in law’s idea of “destroyed” would include our current back yard, because we have dogs who dig some, etc. Like are free-ranging ducks (in a 1/4 acre fenced area) going to be worse than chickens and dogs?

Also, are there breeds that are happy with a kiddie pool? Or would all need to be on a lake or something? We would be converting a chicken setup if we decided on ducks.

A kiddie pool is fine, but they are hard to drain and fill because they get so darn heavy when full. We have a smaller tub which still is a pain because it gets dirty immediately and I can't leave the *hose out in the winter, so I'm drawing buckets a couple times a day for them. But at least I can easily lift and dump it out when it's time to freshen it up.

In a word, YES. Ducks are worse on a lawn than dogs and chickens. Ymmv, but it's only a matter of time before you are having to reseed parts of the lawn nearest to where the bathe, splash, and root. Farmers rotate pasture. You only have one yard.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

FWIW, I'm not telling you you shouldn't get ducks. I'm just telling you what I wish someone would have told us before we got them.​

​

Because everyone said, oh you've got chickens, you should get ducks, too! Sure their needs are a little different, they need more water etc they can be messy. But they absolutely did not say, they are a lot more work and kind of a whole new level of farm animal.​

​

Friends of ours who have always had chickens and horses and went and added (a couple) ducks have a whole farm for everyone to explore, and are used to filling buckets and buckets of water all day. You may not be in the same position. Another friend of ours with an even bigger farm is not doing ducks this year because predation and the PITA factor, they decided it was just not worth it for them. And they have ACRES to work with.​

​

Ultimately you are going to do what you want, but at least you may have your eyes a little more open than we did. My husband is the first to say he wishes we hadn't gotten them, but he was the one initially saying how cute they are! lol​

​

At least we've started getting duck eggs by now, but anyway, we'll see how it goes with the ducking going forward. It's just easier said than done, that's all. You can do all the research and try your best to get set up appropriately and prepared, but you'll still want to remain flexible. We've had to adapt our setup a few times already and I'm sure we're not done yet... Says the girl who's currently crawling into the duck hut every morning and carrying them back and forth to the enclosure every day and night. ​

 

[BabyGotQuack]

Also considering ducks. I don’t want to hijack the thread, so hopefully OP is okay with this, but do you have any pictures of your destroyed lawn? Just wondering since my mother in law’s idea of “destroyed” would include our current back yard, because we have dogs who dig some, etc. Like are free-ranging ducks (in a 1/4 acre fenced area) going to be worse than chickens and dogs?

Also, are there breeds that are happy with a kiddie pool? Or would all need to be on a lake or something? We would be converting a chicken setup if we decided on ducks.

If we weren't covered in snow I could share some pics! Our ducks free range majority of the time, and there’s a couple spots they’ve “destroyed” my grass. We’ve got a hole that needs filling, it’s probably 5” around and deep enough they can stick their whole heads down in there. Then there’s another patch that they’ve got little holes dug & removed grass. I’m very particular about our grass and their destruction isn’t bad enough for me to consider going duckless.

We’ve had a dog in the past that was a digger and her destruction was far worse than anything that my ducks have done/could do.

ALSO my kids decided to take the ranger and do donuts in the snow, which tore up the grass. So the ducks are least of my grass problems

As far as a pool no pond or lake needed. I agree with @Chipmunk Chicks that kiddie pools are hard to dump when full but that’s the route we’ve been going. I just get the smallest kiddie pool I can find which is easier to dump since we fill & dump almost everyday.

I’ve got 10 ducks right now and this tiny kiddie pool works great for them. I’ve seen up to 5 in there at once

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

Hmmm. Definitely seeing pros and cons. What attracted me initially is:

1. Could get naturally flightless breeds. 1/4 of our fence is only about 4ft high, and I had to add and repare netting to keep the chickens in that section. So if we go back to chickens (had to take a break due to a health thing thats resolved), thinking the fence would need an upgrade. And a simple baby gate could keep them off the deck stairs and deck.

2. No scratching/dust baths everywhere. We have some blueberry bushes that the chickens kept trying to murder that we had to fence and then unfence to get at the berries and then immediately re-fence…but it’s just a few bushes so a whole permanent fence and gate seemed dumb.

3. Pest control. The chickens helped with this too, but not whatever attacked my squash. (Do ducks eat fleas and ticks? the chickens DID seem to help with that?)

4. Cuteness, no pecking, potential for a male if we decided to breed (roosters are banned here).

5. Fewer diseases.

6. More steady egg production and more nutritious eggs.


Cons seem to mostly be:

1. Mess

2. Changing water all the time

3. Noise (does anyone know the decibel level of a quack vs a cluck vs an egg “song”?! Would love to know how much more annoying they could be compared to hens)

. I am probably overthinking this. Maybe we should just try it with the idea that perhaps we rehome them.

Ohhh last thing - can you even get sexed ducklings? I don’t see them online, but aren’t some breeds pretty reliable to sex by beak color? I don’t want to end up with multiple boys to process. Which is also technically not allowed unless I go to my friend’s farm to do it.

 

[BabyGotQuack]

I was hoping to find a grass pic in my phone with no luck. Here’s them rooting around in my roses. You can see how deep they dig by the mud on their bills