The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: mowhaugh on August 09, 2013, 10:12:22 pm
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I think I might like some ducks, but not for very good reasons. Aside from the fact I think they look nice, my one year old son is totally obsessed with ducks (it is his swimming teacher's fault), can spot a duck/toy duck/picture of a duck a million miles away, and spends large amounts of each day carrying round his collection of different coloured rubber ducks whilst shouting "Quack quack" loudly. I would love to see the look on his wee face if we had some real ducks here - he is very keen on all the animals we have already.
Do I really want ducks? What are the pros and cons? Space is not an issue, but I really know nothing about them.
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I like my muscoveys, but they don't quack or look much like a "proper" duck.
Pros: they keep the grass down, eat flies and lay eggs. They are quite friendly and interesting to watch. And taste rather nice. They're pretty self sufficient and keep themselves out of trouble mostly.
Cons: they make a muddy mess of ponds and anything wet, dabbling holes into damp earth. They also tend to lay eggs in very well hidden spots and suddenly present you with 12 fluffy little yellow people at inopportune moments. If you don't clip their wings, they fly!!
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I loved having my ducks and was devastated when the fox took them all, including the three youngsters i'd hatched in the incubator. But I had the facilities in the front paddock - a small stream, so they didn't make too much mess. My chickens were taken a month after so I decided if I was to have more birds they were going in the back garden - same size as the front paddock - about a third of an acre.
I have a fairly big pond but it is only fed by the water table, so would become very smelly very quickly. I have therefore decided much to my regret only to have chickens. I have compensated by abetting few quail.
I had lots of both ducks and hens in my last place, but couldn't let them in the field due to foxes on our farm and my late husband no longer around to shoot them, so they had a half acre pen, and a horrid disgusting smelly pond lined with polythene which I had to pump out and clean every 6 weeks - never again!
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Of course you want ducks! Ducks are wonderful my Grandson loves mine if fact until recently I was known as granny quack quack, in fact I have 9 lovely white Indian runners who are just a few weeks old which will be looking for a new home soon :innocent:
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Love my Call Duck - all different colors and patterns - girls are a bit vocal but very sweet looking and boys are very beautiful - you really do have a lot of choices
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Yes, of course you want ducks! What's not to like about them? ;D :&>
They're low maintenance, great fun, eat slugs and lay eggs.
They are rather messy though, but not too bad as long as you give them plenty of space. Go for it, your son will love them! (Especially runners - they're ace!)
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Calls are wonderful, I kept them for many years, they don't make as much mess as the bigger ducks, friendly if handled well, small, nice round duck shape, have a wonderful 'quack' (before I knew what they were I could hear one over the valley and called it a laughing duck) err - just one point, female call ducks can be a bit noisy, but mine tended to be ok unless wanting food, fresh water or I was late letting them out! Go to some agricultural shows over the summer, there are normally ducks about and the breeders would be happy to advise and hope to sell you a pair :-)
They must of course be in a fox/stoat/mink proof house at night, preferably a safe run during the day, esp if dogs and cats could think they are fair game.
Call ducks only lay in spring, quite small eggs, not normally eaten.
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Calls are lovely, very noisy, which may be an issue depending on nearness of neighbours.
But I would get runner ducks - they'll make him, and you, laugh every day, as they charge about 'hands behind their backs' in single file ;D And you'll get eggs.
All ducks need a good pond to wash in, and make a muddy mess near it with their feet. But the smaller, lighter ones like calls and runners, do this less.
If I had to lose any of my poultry it would be my ducks I'd miss most.
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Ducks do like to get their heads under in water for a good scrub sometimes so you really want about a foot deep water somewhere - this could be a belfast sink or something smallish like that (even a bucket full up to top), but they will want something larger generally - a sand pit size to waddle around in. Ducks do love being in water. It's the changing of the water etc that gets a hassle after a while, you should really do it every week which isn't always what you want to be doing in winter. You will have to watch the water depth with your wee one year old son, partic if you have more wee ones yourself. Try your local plumbing/builder centre who may have some plastic type container you wouldn't normally think of which would hold water and maybe a low level tap on it so you could drain it out (filling it is easy).
As regards ducks, calls are super cute but very loud as people have said. Muscovy ducks (we keep) are great but like to roost as they fly - personally I hate the clipping wings thing, I think if you're going to do that then get a non flying one - most ducks are non-flying apart from Muscovy, Call and Mallards.
I'm with Jaykay on the runners - they are hilarious wine bottles on legs but you will have to shut them in at night which they won't like but at least they'll survive. If you're anywhere Anne (Daisy's Mum) her runners are very pretty and runner baby ducklings are to die for. It's nice when your wee ones are 'into' something - ours liked labeelurds (ladybirds) but they're grown up now and like Pandas, no chance of getting them though :D Remember you can always get females for eggs and not bother with a drake - you don't have to have one, you can get fertilised eggs from ebay and if you want ducklings just swap the dud eggs for the fertilised ones. Does mean you take pot luck on the outcome of those though!
Let us know how you go.
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I liked my Crested Ducks - they are really pretty and fun to have in the garden. They are medium size so don't wreck the place but do love eating slugs. Don't need swimming water (though they do love it) as long as they have water deep enough to wash their eyes in so that does help on the messy bit. Then you could just give them a bath of water to play in when you felt like it
All ducks do plenty of poo and can be smelly if not kept clean. Mine had a small concreted night pen that I could hose down. It was just wire mesh, but with the concrete floor the foxes couldn't dig in and I put a wire mesh lid on the top. They had a little roofed open front shelter in there, but I never saw them in it whatever the weather, and a barrel to lay in, which with plenty of clean shavings in meant clean eggs always
They lay from Feb to July about 6 a week each as long as you collect the eggs because they will brood and raise duckling otherwise and are good mums as long as you can protect the ducklings from crows and rats
I ate my spare boys and the meat to frame ratio was good, plus the were excellent flavour, but I doubt you would want to do that, but there is always a market for the crested ducklings as they are so pretty and unusual
As you may know I am selling everything off. All the chickens are gone, but I havent started advertizing the ducks and geese yet, so there are some spring hatched ducks and drakes if you can make it to Worcestershire WR6 5AG
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I've just bought some white campbell ducks this morning :excited: they were from a local poultry sale... there were 2 pens and I won 1 of them :D I'm so excited ;D
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I've just bought some white campbell ducks this morning :excited: they were from a local poultry sale... there were 2 pens and I won 1 of them :D I'm so excited ;D
Can I ask how many you bought and what you paid for them as I have no idea what to ask for mine. I don't even know which are drakes yet ;D
Oh and well done they are lovely ducks to have around :thumbsup:
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I bought 2 and paid £28 for the pair :) where abouts are you? I am looking for a few more and definitely need a drake :)
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Sorry twizzel just realised its white " campbells" you bought, it's white runners that I have.
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This is all exciting! For a pond, I had an idea for using something we already have - I don't know what the exact word is but we've got loads of those white cube shaped plastic tanks that have a metal cage around them and a tap on the bottomthat holds 1000 gallons of water - I was thinking that if I cut one of those in half, I could fill it with a hose and use the tap on the bottom to empty it.
I will definitely be careful with my sons - the plan is to put the ducks in the same wooded area where our hens are, which is fenced with electric netting, and a little way away from the house, so the boys can only go there is they are taken, it is not an area they can access themselves at all.
Thanks for all the tips, I will have to start googling duck breeds.
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Daisy's Mum, when will your ducks be ready? I would be really interested in some, but want to make sure I am properly organised first, and as my husband is combining at the moment, getting things done with my two small 'helpers' is a bit tricky - yours might be needing new homes sooner than we will be prepared!
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I saw some ducks recently in the sawn off base of a container like you describe and it was perfect. Small enough to be emptied but big enough for proper swimming. I've got a big dog bath for mine and it can fit about five (big) ducks or two geese but ideally it would be twice as wide. Oh, and one of them managed to get the bung out of it the other day and it's now been chewed to the point of uselessness so I'm waiting on replacements before they can swim again.
Re. Breeds I've got Silver Appleyards, Cayugas and a single Aylesbury. The Appleyards are great layers and all three breeds are beautiful. I don't know where you are but if I can get my act together, I'm looking to destock a bit. As ever, need to clear more drakes than ducks but could manage a pair of either the Appleyards or Cayugas.
H
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we just got some cayugas..well pleased, :thumbsup: