TopCat
Putin fanboy
Will they mess up my vegetables?
Pet ducks
- Thread starter TopCat
- Start date
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
That's true, they used to make a right fucking noise if I slept in at weekends, as I used to feed them before getting the school bus.
muscovyduck
Good IT skills and food hygiene competent
Potentially? Although grass lawn always seems to be the biggest casualty with ducks. Chickens mess up vegetables sometimes. You can keep them away from the vegetables though by cooping that bit of your garden off away from them. Someone else will hopefully come along with a more definitive answer.
muscovyduck
Good IT skills and food hygiene competent
I would really encourage you to do this by the way, it seems like a bit of a faff to begin with but once you're settled in it's super rewarding
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Johnny Doe
Well-Known Member
Foxes deffo a worry, I just rescued one of our in time, before the biggest fox I've ever seen took her.Had a couple as a kid. They were great although they made a right mess of the back garden and pond, before being had off by foxes
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
It more a question of when not if with foxes tbh. I had some chickens in my back garden, in the UK, in a bit that used to be years ago an old back alley. Fenced in on all sides, with concrete base panels and I had a staff who spent most of her time the garden and after two years a fox stealthily dug under the concrete and killed all four biting their heads off.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Au pair that doubled tbh but it was a marvelous cultural exchange
TopCat
Putin fanboy
Wow! Like actual facts to read. Cool. Will have a gander?Here's a good link for advice, apparently they don't even need a pond.
Ducks as Pets | Keeping and Caring for a Pet Duck
Ducks are wonderfully hardy, inexpensive, and easy to care for. However, before choosing a duckling as a pet, there are several important points to remember.www.petassure.com
TopCat
Putin fanboy
They shit that much? What the fuck do they eat? Chicken curry?
TopCat
Putin fanboy
Some unqualified support at last.
Johnny Doe
Well-Known Member
We got them as chicks, so they started on special feed and then moved on to leaves, pea and other bits, but yeah, they shit everywhere
20Bees
Well-Known Member
I had lots of chickens for many years, and a few runner ducks for a few years. Free range at first, then in a run about the size of a tennis court, surrounded by poultry netting to keep them off the patio, and out of the vegetable plot (and out of the house). Kids aren’t good at avoiding treading in the copious amount of poo.
Ducks don’t NEED to swim, but they do need a deep enough water container to submerge their heads. My garden is level, on heavy clay soil, it doesn’t drain well. The ducks had a small rigid paddling pool, shallow enough for me to easily tip the water out.
The pool needed emptying and refilling at least once a day, but I could have done it every 15 minutes and it would still be filthy water being tipped onto the grass. Ducks love paddling through mud, and paddling not only their feet but digging their long bills through it. They poo in the pool, as well as all over the whole area they have access to. And in their house. Mine had hemp substrate (Aubiose) with straw on top, changed twice a week.
Tipping dirty water out of the pool and moving it to a clean, dry patch of grass swiftly meant that most of their run was more mud than grass. Leaving the pool in the same place, still tipping the dirty water onto the grass before rinsing and refilling with a hosepipe, meant the muddy fringe around the pool got wider and deeper and more unpleasant and difficult to extract my wellies. The ducks were so muddy by the time they got into the pool it immediately needed doing again, and they were so muddy by the time they made it over to some clean grass, they were desperate to wash it off... They’re ok with clean wet bills, feet and feathers but not dirty ones.
Chickens are brilliant about taking themselves to bed but ducks aren’t. They often had to be rounded up and shepherded into their house. Not always easy if you’re on your own. Not easy if you want to go away and someone else is trying to shut them in for the night.
Runners are prolific layers. I like duck eggs for baking cakes, and hard-boiling. The kids didn’t like them but I was always able to sell surplus eggs. Ducks seldom go broody.
Drakes can be a nightmare - one male to four or five females is plenty (and you don’t need a drake for the girls to lay eggs). It’s terribly stressful for the poor ducks if there are multiple drakes incessantly pinning them down to mate. Nothing in the way of sweet talk or romance, just wham-bam... on repeat.
Fox strikes are heartbreaking. Clearing up the carnage left behind is horrible. Now the land behind my place isn’t managed there’s too much cover for foxes and after losing the last three birds I called it a day. Miss them dreadfully, but I wouldn’t have ducks again without an established lake rather than just a garden pool.
Ducks don’t NEED to swim, but they do need a deep enough water container to submerge their heads. My garden is level, on heavy clay soil, it doesn’t drain well. The ducks had a small rigid paddling pool, shallow enough for me to easily tip the water out.
The pool needed emptying and refilling at least once a day, but I could have done it every 15 minutes and it would still be filthy water being tipped onto the grass. Ducks love paddling through mud, and paddling not only their feet but digging their long bills through it. They poo in the pool, as well as all over the whole area they have access to. And in their house. Mine had hemp substrate (Aubiose) with straw on top, changed twice a week.
Tipping dirty water out of the pool and moving it to a clean, dry patch of grass swiftly meant that most of their run was more mud than grass. Leaving the pool in the same place, still tipping the dirty water onto the grass before rinsing and refilling with a hosepipe, meant the muddy fringe around the pool got wider and deeper and more unpleasant and difficult to extract my wellies. The ducks were so muddy by the time they got into the pool it immediately needed doing again, and they were so muddy by the time they made it over to some clean grass, they were desperate to wash it off... They’re ok with clean wet bills, feet and feathers but not dirty ones.
Chickens are brilliant about taking themselves to bed but ducks aren’t. They often had to be rounded up and shepherded into their house. Not always easy if you’re on your own. Not easy if you want to go away and someone else is trying to shut them in for the night.
Runners are prolific layers. I like duck eggs for baking cakes, and hard-boiling. The kids didn’t like them but I was always able to sell surplus eggs. Ducks seldom go broody.
Drakes can be a nightmare - one male to four or five females is plenty (and you don’t need a drake for the girls to lay eggs). It’s terribly stressful for the poor ducks if there are multiple drakes incessantly pinning them down to mate. Nothing in the way of sweet talk or romance, just wham-bam... on repeat.
Fox strikes are heartbreaking. Clearing up the carnage left behind is horrible. Now the land behind my place isn’t managed there’s too much cover for foxes and after losing the last three birds I called it a day. Miss them dreadfully, but I wouldn’t have ducks again without an established lake rather than just a garden pool.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
Ducks are great! Food and sex! What's not to like!
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
TopCat
Putin fanboy
Go on, crush my desires and dreams.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
TopCat
Putin fanboy
My dream was to take in inspiration from the duck robot hoover dressed cat video and do my own.Oh TopCat
I don’t like the idea of so much mess and London is full of foxes. I am re thinking.
The garden is nice. My first year of tending to it. Still got lots to do.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
Cid
Proper break this time
Nah, they're sweet creatures. I always enjoy feeding them in the park when it's freezing - the second one clocks you with food it lets all the others know, and within about twenty seconds you're surrounded by dozens of geese. A lovely way to start the day.
They are deeply evil. The fact that you are their friend simply confirms that belief.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
easily the best species of Duck imo:
muscovyduck
Good IT skills and food hygiene competent
muscovyduck
Good IT skills and food hygiene competent
skip to about 30 seconds in for some sweet muscovy action
And I need to put this video up for the emotional violin music and 60s public information film vibes
And I need to put this video up for the emotional violin music and 60s public information film vibes
