anyone kept a duck?
- Thread starter Zfishies
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you feed them game feed you get at your local farm store. lettuces, worms ect are good as treats, but not as there staple diet. you need a shelter for them to get out of the elements. are predators an issue where you live? if so, you'll need to make it so you can lock the ducks up at night
we have this device that keeping away raccoons and opposums and other large rodents. ever since we used it no problems. it sends out frequencies that they dont like. could i just invest in a doggie house and maybe add like a chain door i can only open?
Uh, you may want to reconsider getting ducks since you have many of your fishes in ponds. Ducks have a way of finding their way into ponds and eating/attempting to eat/mutilating the inhabitants of said ponds. And fences around the pond don't help unless there is a cover of some sort. Another thing to remember is that adult ducks tend to defecate a ton, and they seem to really enjoy doing so in the water thereby majorly increasing the bio-load of your pond(s).
Trust me on this one: we used to have some ducks and I lost a few small koi that after the dumb things ate their fins; they also made the pond pretty gross.
If you still want to get ducks, head out to your nearest Tractor Supply store (should be one relatively near you) and purchase all the essentials for raising them. These items include: heat lamp, heat lamp fixture, wood chips (bedding), watering container (don't just use a bowl, they may drown/swim in it when they are young), starter/grower feed (first food to feed them; foods need changed as they grow), and a feeding container (once again, don't use a bowl in order to help keep feces out of their food).
You'll also need a fairly large container to keep them in while they're growing out. You can make their permanent home while they're growing out; I'll get you the details on square footage and stuff after I look it up from my book on keeping ducks.
As for breeds, I would avoid the common mallard since they can fly which makes containing them a real pain since ducks love to explore. If you want tons of eggs, consider getting Khaki Campbells (tan-colored ducks) or Indian Runners (also known as penguin ducks because of their posture). If you want to eat them, then get Pekins (giant white ducks). If you want really big ducks that can fly and will roost in trees for sure, then go with Muscovies (big, warty-faced ducks; have pretty wicked claws). There are many other breeds, but the ones that I named are usually pretty easy to get.
One last thing that I have to say: get at least four ducklings (preferably six) so that they'll still have friends in case a few die when they're young (which sometimes happens; it's sometimes inevitable).
Trust me on this one: we used to have some ducks and I lost a few small koi that after the dumb things ate their fins; they also made the pond pretty gross.
If you still want to get ducks, head out to your nearest Tractor Supply store (should be one relatively near you) and purchase all the essentials for raising them. These items include: heat lamp, heat lamp fixture, wood chips (bedding), watering container (don't just use a bowl, they may drown/swim in it when they are young), starter/grower feed (first food to feed them; foods need changed as they grow), and a feeding container (once again, don't use a bowl in order to help keep feces out of their food).
You'll also need a fairly large container to keep them in while they're growing out. You can make their permanent home while they're growing out; I'll get you the details on square footage and stuff after I look it up from my book on keeping ducks.
As for breeds, I would avoid the common mallard since they can fly which makes containing them a real pain since ducks love to explore. If you want tons of eggs, consider getting Khaki Campbells (tan-colored ducks) or Indian Runners (also known as penguin ducks because of their posture). If you want to eat them, then get Pekins (giant white ducks). If you want really big ducks that can fly and will roost in trees for sure, then go with Muscovies (big, warty-faced ducks; have pretty wicked claws). There are many other breeds, but the ones that I named are usually pretty easy to get.
One last thing that I have to say: get at least four ducklings (preferably six) so that they'll still have friends in case a few die when they're young (which sometimes happens; it's sometimes inevitable).
that was going to lead me to my next question do they eat fish and have big bio load in the pond LOL.... even big cats they eat? and gar?. i may just setup a kiddie pool with a nice filter. now the ducks r in the maybe factor.... dang it!
If you get bigger ducks that can't fly well (or at all), then you could get away with a small fence around your pond(s) to keep them out. They will probably nip the fins of fish in the least or, in the case of the catfish, get eaten if they are allowed pond-access while still small. I personally would just make them a shallow pond with a reasonable amount of surface area (18" to 2' deep, maybe 4' x 8' surface area); they love swimming and diving so the extra depth is greatly appreciated. As filtration, think of them as big turtles that defecate a ton, so tons of filtration (especially biological filtration) will be needed to keep the pond from smelling like duck poo soup.
I'll have to find that book that I mentioned before so that I can give you the amounts of space that are recommended for in their house, enclosure, etc.
they love eating spinach, and as a base i used nuetrogena premium gamebird feed, as a pen (big as possible) i used hardware cloth (half inch ar less holes otherwise their heads can get stuck) if you want them tame work with them every day. take a hose and spray the ground in half the pen and they will then start sticking their noses in and getting worms the pond idea is great i would recommend putting lots of pond plants in for them to eat. good luck
Ive kept ducks before they are actualy a pretty easy pet to care for. If you do get a duck get two or more. As for food most duck/chcken foods you find at your local farm store will be fine.
ducks NEED water.. they have to swim to activate the oil gland that makes them waterproof, and they need to swim to stimulate their digestive system properly. ducks don't have teeth.. they can't bite the fins of large fish. they can, do and will eat fish that can fit in their mouths. they also eat bugs, worms and such as they find them. and if you have a pond with large catfish in it i would worry about letting ducklings swim there.
when i got my duckies i was warned about them drowning.. so i got the fancy waterers and feeders.. it's a bunch of malarky. i put them in the bathtub and they started swimming underwater when they were less than 1 week old. when they are tiny you have to painstakingly dry them because their oil gland hasn't developed yet. but it's a great way to bond with the duckies and make it so they will always trust you.
now i keep a big pan of water in their enclosure and i dump all of their food into the bucket of water.
my ducks are white pekin ducks, they are flightless and docile for the most part, none of my ducks have ever tried to attack me or bite me, and one of the males comes and eats out of my hand when i give them bread for a treat. my girlfriend has a male mallard that is a bastard and bites people, and a female mutt duck that is docile and pleasant.
when i got my duckies i was warned about them drowning.. so i got the fancy waterers and feeders.. it's a bunch of malarky. i put them in the bathtub and they started swimming underwater when they were less than 1 week old. when they are tiny you have to painstakingly dry them because their oil gland hasn't developed yet. but it's a great way to bond with the duckies and make it so they will always trust you.
now i keep a big pan of water in their enclosure and i dump all of their food into the bucket of water.
my ducks are white pekin ducks, they are flightless and docile for the most part, none of my ducks have ever tried to attack me or bite me, and one of the males comes and eats out of my hand when i give them bread for a treat. my girlfriend has a male mallard that is a bastard and bites people, and a female mutt duck that is docile and pleasant.
