Pet ducks

[Puddy_Tat]

i'm not sure this is a good idea.

in fact i think it's quackers.

 

[Badgers]

We had a pretty big garden growing up and my dad kept chickens and ducks for 20 years.

The garden was not that wide but very long. Dad split it into three parts...

Grass
Vegetable garden
Chicken run

The chicken/duck run was fenced in (about 4ft high) and there was a chicken shed for overnight. Like the one below but a bit smaller:



At most about 30 chickens and 10 ducks at any one time. They were great and I find them relaxing to be around. They did pick the ground bare though! The only thing that survived in the 'run' was the Gooseberry bushes and the trees.

Also you need more space to store a lot of food, oyster shells, straw etc.

Chickens are a bit smelly and do shit a fair bit. However ducks are much more of a handful.

They are shit machines.
They do need a fair amount of water.
They should have company.

They need as much space and water deep enough to swim in as you can afford to give

The Drakes are very rapey and even drowned a few chickens in the pond.

Probably the main reason I would not hurry to get some is the foxes. It was horrible coming back to a dozen or more dead birds.

You have to make sure that you are not out past dark to lock them up safely. You could get a chicken/duck pen but that is not fair imo.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

ThisView attachment 257650

My aunt lived in a basement flat with a small yard out the back, with very tall walls because she was in the basement, and a tiny little ornamental pond. Two mallards (presumably married) would hang out in her yard every day, and sometimes overnight. They just turned up one day and kept visiting for many years.

Her- I wish we didn’t have to bother with the crowds in the park. I hate that Dorian and her mardy husband. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we had a private place we could just be together....

Him- Look! Look down there! I know it’s small and only gets the sun for a couple of hours a day but it would fit the bill for our private hang out!

Her- I love you!




I was lucky enough to meet and chat with Ruthie the Duck Lady when I was in New Orleans.

French Quarter legend 'Ruthie the Duck Girl' lives on in painting by Metairie artist

Ruthie the Duck Girl, a legendary French Quarter eccentric known for skating from bar to bar on roller skates often accompanied by a couple of ducks, has returned to her

www.nola.com

There are lots of different ways to have a duck companion.
YiouTube is heaving with videos of ducks living indoors with cats and dogs etc.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

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.

Reading this, I’ve come away with two possibly false impressions :

You had a female servant whose had to spend most of her tome in the back garden

The fox took two stealthy years to tunnel under the fence, presumably carrying the residual gravel and sand off to drop unobtrusively on a nearby path. I suppose it took two whole years because foxes only have very small pockets in which to carry gravel.

 

[20Bees]

I'm disappointed that you didn't go out and buy yourself some ducks yesterday TopCat. The longer you leave it the more doubt will creep in - strike while the iron's hot.

PS - get geese instead - they're better.

You ever slipped over on those plate-sized piles of green stinking goose shit?
Goose eggs also are less popular than duck eggs.
All my ducks over the years came from friends who don’t keep theirs on grass. They have a small paddock area completely covered with a tough barrier membrane and then deep woodchip. The ducks have various small pools dotted about and the spillage soaks away without turning to mud. Mud is bad, both for the ducks and for the human sliding around in it.
If chickens share the woodchip area they scratch and keep turning it over and airing it, and breaking up the ducks’ messy droppings. They like to eat grass but the damage they do can’t be underestimated.

 

[pinkmonkey]

They shit everywhere, because they don't have ringpieces. It just exits the duck when it's reached the end. This is my excuse to share the most random website ever. Universal Duck/Goose Shoes, Canary Yellow — PartyFowl Pets

 

[cupid_stunt]

My dream was to take in inspiration from the duck robot hoover dressed cat video and do my own.
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.

So, the plan is now a dead duck?

 

[farmerbarleymow]

They are deeply evil. The fact that you are their friend simply confirms that belief.

What's wrong with you?

 

[cupid_stunt]

They are deeply evil. The fact that you are their friend simply confirms that belief.

Yep, first seagulls, and now geese, he's wrong'un.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Yep, first seagulls, and now geese, he's wrong'un.

People who hate wildlife are deeply suspect.

 

[Cid]

People who hate wildlife are deeply suspect.

They're basically just small velociraptors.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

They're basically just small velociraptors.

People who hate wildlife? I agree - dinosaurs the lot of them.

 

[Cid]

People who hate wildlife? I agree - dinosaurs the lot of them.

I give up. These terrible jokes. They're just ducking the issue. People like you, just pond-life. Eggsactly what I expected from a gull-lover.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I give up. These terrible jokes. They're just ducking the issue. People like you, just pond-life. Eggsactly what I expected from a gull-lover.

Shut it yer bloody weirdo.

Geese are lovely and that's a fact.

 

[tim]

You want pigeons. They're fox-proof and shit in the neighbours' gardens.

 

[Cid]

Shut it yer bloody weirdo.

Geese are lovely and that's a fact.

Guard goose - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Guard goose - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Bet you've just edited that page to spread lies.

 

[muscovyduck]

I can't help but feel like we put you off getting ducks TopCat

 

[pug]

Get some quails eggs from the supermarket and hatch them out, see how you get on...

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Get some quails eggs from the supermarket and hatch them out, see how you get on...

Ostrich eggs would be better.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I can't help but feel like we put you off getting ducks TopCat

TopCat could get some pigs and goats instead - they're much more likely to annoy his neighbours.

 

[pug]

Ostrich eggs would be better.

Need at least two cats if not three to incubate an ostrich egg successfully.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Need at least two cats if not three to incubate an ostrich egg successfully.

I think TopCat is quite tall so he could cuddle them to make sure they're warm enough. He might have to stay in the same position for weeks - not sure how long ostrich eggs are incubated for to be honest.

 

[Cid]

I'm on board with ostriches, they are at least honest about their dinosaur heritage.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I'm on board with ostriches, they are at least honest about their dinosaur heritage.

Imputing motive onto the lovely geese I see.

 

[tim]

People who hate wildlife are deeply suspect.

People who eat wildlife are deeply suspect.