[martel]

Hi friends I am considering having a few peaking ducks a dozen or so  on the farm for meat can any one advised will I need to create a pond for them to swim or can i have them on hard land  and i can i feed them the same way I do chickens in a chicken house all caged up
thanks
martel jamaica

[tizaala]

Martel, if you repost this in the poultry section you might get the answers you need  .

[Blackmyre]

Yes, should be posted in Poultry, not Cattle. I don't know if Dan or Rosemary can move it for you.


Anyway, a brief answer is "no": ducks will certainly appreciate a pond if you provide one, but they don't actually need one. What you really must do is make sure they have access to water deep enough for them to be able to get their heads in so they can "snort" water through their nostrils.


Ducks will happily eat Layers' Pellets like hens, but I don't think I've ever come across ducks being kept caged up: even the commercial flocks I've seen have had access to roam on grassland during the daytime.


If they're for meat, you might also consider something like Aylesburys - they're bigger and meatier than Pekins.


Be warned that ducks are very messy.