OK, all you duck experts. We have two, probably female, Rouen ducks. Our first ducks ever, and man, are we learning a lot! They are SUPPOSED to be closed in with my free range chickens every night, but don't seem to be much interested in doing that. It took me an hour to get one of them out from underneath the chicken house last night (yeah, I'll be chicken fencing THAT off tonight!). And to add to the angst, something has been stealing my chickens during the day, and I really don't want to lose these ducks, so we can't just leave them out at night. Also, our back enclosure with a 6 foot fence is going to become the "Butcher Boys" domain this summer with all the roosters this last hatch is sure to have produced. So we can't use that for the ducks, even if I was sure whatever is eating my flock couldn't get over that fence.
My garden is fenced with a 6 foot fence, and I happen to be slowly digging a little fish pond out of the middle of it, so I was thinking maybe they should just become "Garden Ducks". I pretty much grow everything, though. Will they eat all my veggies?? Are they omnivorous like the chickens? They are really shy of people, so this might also help them get used to me, since I am out there in the garden almost every day.
Thoughts?
My garden is fenced with a 6 foot fence, and I happen to be slowly digging a little fish pond out of the middle of it, so I was thinking maybe they should just become "Garden Ducks". I pretty much grow everything, though. Will they eat all my veggies?? Are they omnivorous like the chickens? They are really shy of people, so this might also help them get used to me, since I am out there in the garden almost every day.
Thoughts?