[cairnhill]

Calling all duck keepers.............We are getting some Khaki Campbell ducks soon and only have experience of chickens.  What would be the golden rules of duck keeping in your experience?  All advice welcome    It will be a young group of 4 ducks and 1 drake.

[faith0504]

my golden rule would be keep an eye on your clock/watch, as time flies when you sit with a brew and watch them, they are fantastic time gobblers.

Hope you enjoy them, we thing ours are fantastic,

P.s they are very addictive

 

[Sandy]

Love them, they Pooh a lot of sloppy stuff, mess up all and any water you put down, they will sit in bowls, pans, etc, they also drop their food in the water as they like it wet, and they Drakes are VERY amorous, our poor chickens and our Duck Lilly succumbed to Charlie all the time, they end up with bold patches on the back of the neck!!! I suggest they get picked up a lot too!! Ducks like goats, always look like they are smiling!!

[jameslindsay]

Much similar to keeping hens. They will destroy your garden if you do not keep them in a specific area. Obviously they love having water to swim in and this will always be dirty. They also love bread, slugs, worms etc. You will love them.

[Dizzycow]

They're fab and quite easy. Shutting them up at night is the most difficult thing about mine, and they go in fairly happily. KCs are great layers.

[melholly]

Hello!

Good luck with yours. IR's & KC's are great layers and great characters. Depending on how handled they are when you get them, handle them as much as possible and be strict with feeding so that they quickly associate you with food - makes putting them away at night MUCH easier as they don't normally naturally roost! But if I can keep them anyone can!! Great characters and eggs are fab for sponges!!

Mx

[doganjo]

be strict with feeding so that they quickly associate you with food

Absolutely right - only trouble is I can't sneak into the house anymore afetr being to the shops - the second my car tyres hit the gravel they are screaming their heads off for food, dogs start barking, I panic and rush in, tripping over things to get up teh front steps, go to the loo, dump bags, rush out to let dogs out, they run about screaming with excitement, then round to feed ducks!   Fall in a heap exhausted, with dogs lolliping all over me.

[northfifeduckling]

Good choice !  You will love them.
The only things that come to mind is that bedtime might need some training but it is easier now that the nights are getting a bit shorter. Around solstice we had to round them up around midnight....
They tend to hide their eggs all over the place so mine are let out of their house by 10 to give me chance of finding at least some of them in the house 
They need lots and lots of fresh water - and something they can paddle about in. I opted for a kids' sandpit as a paddling pool as I won't let them into the natural pond - they would eat everything alive in it and change it into a poop puddle  . Wee pools can be easily cleaned, too.

Enjoy!!