[janeheritage]

I am so enjoying my chooks I can't help thinking about other kinds of bird. I konw there are many duckophiles on the site. Would a few of you like to tell me -

? What is so good about ducks?

? What is bad about ducks?

Also, if I had ducks, would I need to keep them separate from my chooks or could they range together? Plus do ducks have to have a pond?

We have a wildlife pond in our front garden. It is in what used to be a lawn and is now a little meadow about 20m square. The pond is about 10sq m in the winter - smaller in the summer because of all the vegetation! I have attached pictures of meadow (pond on the right) and the pond (notice the oil tank behind the ceanothus).

Could ducks use the pond and the meadow? Would they destroy it? What sort of fencing keeps them in?

Many thanks all!

[joyfull]

wow lovely looking place there. 

[Vember]

Hi Jane

The Good - Ducks are fantastic You'll wonder why you didn't get them sooner they are sooo funny

The Bad - Some are worst than others but they do like to find damp places and dib their beaks in till it's nice and muddy, but with that area I doubt you'd notice   Calls ducks I have found are the worst dibbing mud hole offenders

My ducks spend their days with the hens, no problems at all but have separate housing at night

The pond you have looks fantastic but how long it would stay like that is another question. If you were to get 2/3 ducks you might be lucky in the respect it wouldn't need to be cleaned out (I have to do mine twice a week, but they (the ponds) are tiny by comparison)

They don't need a huge pond and even though mine have a couple of (ish) size ones they still prefer to go in the plastic sandpit (argos) If you have one of those on the ground with a ramp up they'll be happy as, and all it needs at night is tipping and fresh water adding daily

Fencing wise same as the chickens, they need to be safe from Mr F 

Sarah

[Hensington]

They can be a little more messy than hens and a lot more destructive with plants. They will range with hens, try a smaller breed perhaps and they won't have the impact of aylesburys.

[too many girls]

I have Aylesburys, they are fantastic, a joy to own and watch, we started off with 6,  we dutifully escorted them down to the lake every day in the hopes they would eventually venture there on their own, they would splash around the edge for a few minutes before diving out and running pell mell back to the farm, they will not go to the lake on their own, with Super ducks 1 to 18 we decided to take a different approach, keep them down the cowshed for a few days, then take them to the lake, then take them back to the cowshed (this was in the hope that they wouldn't maraude through the farm like a plague of locusts eating every thing in their path) this was done for the first time this morning, the first thing to go wrong was when they swam off to the middle of the lake and wouldn't come out, with a lot of jumping up and down, flapping of arms and shouting from the edge we managed to get them out and back to the cowshed, we then hid, came back through the wood instead of the field (so they wouldn't follow us) and got to school with minutes to spare, when i got back to the farm i had a quick peak to see if they were ok, gone, looked in the chook paddock and there they were, stuffing themselves with my hen's food...................beaten again
get ducks, you won't regret it

[Foxy]

I adore my ducks, I have runners which are a little messy. I would just get a few ducks and see how you get on first. It looks like there are stones aleady around the waters edge which is useful as they do like to dabble. 

[Kate and her Ducks]

Love my ducks too and think most of the pros and cons have been mentioned except of course for the eggs, duck eggs are fab and brilliant in baking.

[Poolfield2]

I have had ducks and hens at different times and I have to say ducks are absolute clowns made me laugh everytime I watched them. They are better at garden slug and snail clearance than hens but the are Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay messier and you have to put them to bed whereas hens go on their own and you just close the door.

I wouldn't let them use a pond that you want to use for anything else as it gets smelly very quickly, I'd go for the sand pit version that is easy to tip and wash.

Enjoy

[Kate and her Ducks]

Have to say my ducks usually go to bed themselves and if not I just walk behind them and they toddle off to bed.

[poultrygeist]

Nuff said. Do it.

Rob

[janeheritage]

They sound gorgeous. It also sounds to me as if we might be better letting them range with the chooks in the back garden and keeping our front garden and little wilderness nice and wild for us - and the newts - and the frogs - and the toads - and the grass snakes - and the slow worms - and the dragonflies... 

If they are in the back with the chickens, would they need a separate house outside the chicken run, or could it be inside the chicken run to benefit from the existing foxproofing?

Within the garden, will little low fences serve to stop ducks from accessing all areas, or do they fly? Sorry to be so higgorant... 

Picture of back garden attached - we are going for the natural look on our lawn this year 

[poultrygeist]

Given the diversity of your front garden, the ducks would soon sterilise it. You've probably listed an a la carte menu for them. Deffo put them in the back garden.

Rob

[janet12000]

I had chooks and have now got 2 ducks.
They all wander about the garden together, although they sleep separately.
What is weird is that as soon as I let them all out, the ducks go straight into the chicken house and the chooks go straight into the duck house!
The ducks are messy!
Go for it though......they are so entertaining!

[nicchick]

I find ducks much cuter than chickens and I am barmy about chooks! They are very messy though and also quite noisy. Nic.

[matilda duck]

I love my ducks!!!!  I always wanted chickens but we got ducks first then chickens second....I wouldn't be without them!!! I started off with 4 now we are at 10 and we live in a normal semi :blink:

If you have a chicken run set up, I see no reason why you can't put a duck house in there if they are free ranging.  Duck houses don't have to be as tall as chickens as they don't roost!!!

Ducks are messy but you learn to switch off somehow to the mess and think "well it's good for the grass, worms, soil,".  Mine also love the sandpit pond it's wonderfull to watch them.....and they don't fly like chickens do.......well some breeds don't

What sort are you thinking of getting? 
There is plenty of advice on here from all us ducky owners of our favs.  Good luck!!!!

GO ON GET SOME!!!!!!!