Duck advice needed please :)

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Sadgit

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Duck advice needed please :)
« on: April 25, 2011, 08:41 »
Hello,

We've kept chickens for a number of years now, and the 2 we have left are getting rather noisy.. I think it is because they are bored in their run. If I let them out, they destroy they garden . Anyway.. thinking of re-homing them and getting 3 or 4 ducks. Planning on making our Pond bigger, so it will be 8footx6footx3deep.


Some questions I have and we will be getting the smaller type of duck.

Are they quieter than chickens?
Do they destroy the garden like chickens? i.e. pull everything from under the hedges onto the grass
if I have decent filtration in the pond will it need water changing that regularly?
Do you need a drake?

Hmm I had more questions, but cannot think of them right now :D

Cheers
Mark

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joyfull

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2011, 08:54 »
your garden will end up a mud bath and covered in lots of duck poop, it's amazing just how much a duck can do  :lol:
Staffies are softer than you think.

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Sadgit

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2011, 20:15 »
even a large garden?

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alancane

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2011, 20:41 »
Some friends of mine have ducks and they say they make more mess than chickens and they poo alot more too.  :lol: :lol:
They are also noisier as well. I am sure there are lots of positives though. I hope some duck lovers come along and sell the idea to you .
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Alan
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joyfull

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2011, 20:43 »
their eggs are very nice and make lovely cakes  :)

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alancane

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2011, 20:48 »
There ya go! If you had told me that before Joyfull, I might have gone and got some ducks.
Oh and they look really cute on the water   8)

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orchardlady

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2011, 21:46 »
I keep 4 Kaki Campbell ducks in my field with the hens. They have a separate house for the night time. I only started keeping ducks last year and I think they are wonderful. I would suggest that you do not let them onto your garden pond as they will pollute it very quickly. Fence it off? I use a child's rigid plastic sandpit and tip the water out daily, rinse, re fill and give a good clean once a week. I do this every single day of the year and yes it was difficult during the very cold weather we experienced last winter. However it ensures the ducks are using clean water that has not had time to build up possibly harmful bacteria. If you have a big garden you could use this system and the ground won't become waterlogged and muddy if you move their paddling pool every day a few feet. I think they are less destructive than chickens and possibly a little quieter but they do seem to like to comment on everything. You will no longer have a slug and snail problem.

Orchardlady.

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muntjac

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2011, 21:56 »
looks like your gonna be needing some new chicken pals to stop the others getting bored ,, noting like a new young bird in the area to keep them interesed ;)
still alive /............

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Kate and her Ducks

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2011, 22:07 »
I have to say that my ducks have not completely destroyed the garden but they are not allowed anywhere near the veg patch during summer! They do not dig holes like chickens and they keep the grass nicely trimmed. I generally do not need to mow the lawn they are on. Providing the area drains well and they are kept off the grass while it is chucking it down it doesnt tend to turn into a mudbath. The last place I lived had no drainage so when it rained it looked like the Somme but where I am now is fine although a little threadbare after winter. Despite having them on it most of the time it is growing back.
Only hardy plants survive in their main runn but where they are let out at the front they really havent damaged anything including the perennial flowers. The main problem can be that they really walk over stuff rather than round it!

They are allowed ontl the veg patch in wiinter where they clear up any leftovers, keep the weeds down to non existant while eating any slugs and snails and their eggs and all the time fertilising it (a lot!!!).

I love them!.
Be like a duck. Calm on the surface but always paddling like the dickens underneath.

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Sassy

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2011, 08:37 »
I have ducks and hens and there are good and bad to be said for both. There was an article recently in one of the Sunday supplements arguing that ducks were easier to keep than hens that generally they keep more healthy. I cannot comment on that. They do make a mess and if you have a large garden I would try it on the proviso that you have a run to contain them in if things get a bit out of hand! Good luck :)
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted!!

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Jane-M

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2011, 10:17 »
My cayuga trio are not noisy unless alarmed. Otherwise they are nice quiet ducks. They make an astounding mess with their bath water! they are getting a new bath soon which will be set into a deep gravel patch with a soakaway drain. I change their water completely every week - in hot weather you'll soon know about it if you don't. In the winter they had to have their bath in a washing up bowl every morning - I put out warm water for them to stop it freezing before they had used it - we were at -15 - -20 for days at a stretch from late Nov - mid Jan. When the mild weather came and I filled up their big tank they were ecstatic!!!

In the deep snow they slept/lived in the hen house, otherwise they sleep in the open (foxproff!) run in all temperatures, even making their bed on solid ice, I gave them a pile of old nordman Christmas tree branches as their leaves and straw were freezing into the ice. Tough birds.

I have just got a pair of call ducks too, they are to have the run of the garden. I believe that they do not destroy gardens - I know someone who kept about a dozen of them in her immaculate garden.

Ducks are lovely company and seem a lot brighter than hens. Let's put it this way, my ducks have names and are pets. The chickens are chickens!
3 o'clock is both too early and too late to start anything - Sartre said so.

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Sadgit

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #11 on: April 27, 2011, 11:49 »
Hmmm ask 20 duck keepers a question and get 20 answers :D:D

Even a pair is better than none.. we just want to have some life in the garden, as I want the veg patch back and getting rid of my allotment.. I just don't have time for it :(

Our garden is a garden and not a show room.. and the pond is a pond.. Hmmm Really appreciate all the replies, might go for a pair of call ducks...

The back lawn is slightly sloping and drains superbly well..

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Epona_4

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #12 on: April 27, 2011, 12:25 »
hiya can i add my two pennarth here? call ducks are called 'call' for a reason....they are noisier than the larger breeds, also its best to have a trio of ducks i think, the drakes do get rather 'enthusiastic' in their attentions to the females so its best to have more than one female to take the pressure off if you get my drift? Mine are wonderful slug/snail eating machines and they have an old baby bath for washing in, its changed every day, they love to potter around after you and will find yourself almost chopping heads off when yhou are digging! its the worms and slug eggs! i love mine and wouldnt be without  :D

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Sadgit

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #13 on: April 27, 2011, 12:33 »
hmm yeah just read they can be noisy in the mornings...  what type of duck do you have?

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jamima

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Re: Duck advice needed please :)
« Reply #14 on: April 27, 2011, 18:44 »
i used to have 5 call ducks but far too noisy so only got one now much quieter ! :)



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