The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: fairhaven on February 16, 2013, 12:40:18 pm
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Our son's female mallard is driving me mad & I'm sure the neighbours are sick of her - Last night was the last straw... Over the last few months she has been increasingly noisy but for the last week or two she is calling nearly all night, every night.
She has a lovely male with her, we also have other ducks including an appleyard female that seems to compete for attention at night :tired: They have a good size land area, 2 sheds & a couple of hutches & a 40ft pond.... What more can I do with her?
We can't eat her as our son is only 5 & he has called her 'Daphne' ::) But she also raises her own ducklings every year & is a brilliant mum - It's just that the recent noise levels are a new thing.. :(
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Could something be scaring her, maybe a fox or badger going about which she can sense.
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Some ducks are noisier than others and I must admit that I love the noise ::) ! Could you move the night quarters so you don't hear her that much at night? Trouble is that ducks sleep in the day and are awake at night...my neighbour asked me once if there was something wrong with them - she doesn't have double glazing - but that must have been a particularly noisy night. :&>
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This time of year wild ducks are starting to choose their nesting sites so she may be hearing them, or possibly geese beginning to fly north?
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We do have a few geese flying over at the moment - and living right on the back of the broads we also have some other waterfowl in the area, We have moved her & her male onto the field with the chickens for now, just to keep the neighbour happy, but I miss seeing the mallards on the pond... Maybe she will still raise some ducklings even though they are in with the chickens now? :fc: