what edibles do you plant for your ducks?

[ambrose]

In Storey's he talks about planing mulberries and grape vines for duck.

What else do people plant mainly for their ducks?

two more specific questions:

*anyone plant a bush (say huckleberry or something) *in* the pen/run? How does that work out? Would it be compatible w/deep litter?

*I'd love to have grape vines coming up over the coop. (thinking of a style sorta like the Garden Coop for chickens where there's wire on top and a clear roof and the vines could go inbetween). BUT I'd be building the duck house/run in the more shady corner of the yard -- some sun, but not a lot. What fruit vine would both: please my ducks w/some sort of good eatin' and grow well in semi-shade? (looking beautiful would be a nice extra too -- I want an eye-pleasing set-up).

In online photos I've seen folks do hops w/coops. But I don't imagine the ducks eat them, and I'm not into the whole home-brew thing.

 

[Amiga]

Look into hardy kiwi. It's a vine that does okay in part shade, and probably would be fine fruit for them (we have one, so I hope so! It just started fruiting last year.)

And I planted river grape and mulberries in the forest garden (where we go frequently) with them in mind.

I plant lettuce near them but not in the pen, so I can toss it to them.

 

[ambrose]

Ha! So I take Amiga's words to heart and go research hardy kiwi on the relevant forum for that stuff. guess what apparently slugs are a problem for it and the duck solution was mentioned!

So do I need hardy kiwi for the ducks or ducks for the hardy kiwi? sounds like symbiosis to me!

 

[newbyduckmom]

I have raspberries in my run (not a good thing - brambles seem to be causing injuries). Blueberries, which works good, except we do not get the berries.

Herbs, mesclun, kale, lettuce, Sweet Meat Squash. All sacrifice crops for the ducks. Never done any vines. Hops I find curious as my husband is just getting into home brew stuff and the hops are very toxic to dogs, so might want to check that issue first.

 

[m.kitchengirl]

I have some Comfrey I plan to plant in & around the duck yard.
I also tore up a whole side of the house to grow a border of rosemary, lavender & other tall plants I can use to supplement feed & bedding. I plan to hang all the lavender in my breezeway all winter & add it a little at a time to the bedding in the duck & chicken coops.

I think I'll plant the hardy kiwi around my new duck coop, if it will grow in my zone. Its very shady over there but I am not sure much will grow - the shade trees are all pine.

There are a lot of wild blackberry bushes and some raspberries down there, but I am glad that my new fence will only allow them access to some of my berry bushes. Last year they did a real number on my Japanese Beetles, but they got most of the raspberries, too.

 

[Amiga]

We have comfrey in the tea garden, to which the ducks have access from late fall through early spring.

Last year I learned that they love tender comfrey sprouts! And that was fine. I excluded them from the area some time in April, and we had loads of comfrey in a few weeks' time.

They do not seem to like the mature comfrey leaves nearly as much. Might be all those thin bristles. But chopped, they seem to like it okay.

They also, early in the spring when there is not much green around, like to nibble kiwi leaves. So I have exclusion fence around most of the kiwi. There are a few branches I don't mind them pruning.

They prune the lower branches of the American hazelnut in one garden, but leave it alone in another one. Seems there is an algorithm that involves how much total greenness is available in a garden.