Thinking of keeping ducks....

trickeymickey

As the title says we are considering keeping ducks.

We have a descent size garden so no problems there and no other pets to speak off.(4 kids though :eek:)

I have heard they are quieter than chickens and less mess as well as being very friendly if handled properly and raised from young.

I wondered if anyone can offer advice about whats the best breeds, feeding, housing etc.

Thanks,
Mick

ps wife thinks i'm quackers :rolleyes:

foreign_correspondent

trickeymickey wrote: »

I have heard they are quieter than chickens and less mess as well as being very friendly if handled properly and raised from young.

I definitely wouldnt say less mess - they are mucky little devils, trailing water, mud and algae all over the place...

mrcol1000

Omlet UK is very good website at telling you plain English advice on keeping birds that lay eggs in your garden. (Although they just want to sell you related stuff).
Just a word of warning. I use to live next to a canal and use to get woken up by ducks making that "laughing" sound. I use to like it but I can well imagine if you had the wrong sort of neighbours it getting on their nerves.
Anyway Omlet guide to ducks is below:
http://www.omlet.co.uk/guide/guide.php?view=Ducks

trickeymickey

Thanks for that website yes i'll check it out.

Noise cant be any worse than my neighbours dog, cat, rabbits (that thump their hutch all night!) and 4 kids with skateboards.:mad:

Just checking out some duck houses on ebay.

cheepskate_2

ahhh, wish I could have some little feathered friends, then again so does the cat. Hence why we have no small guests.
My sis has them on her small holding and they are so sweet following you around everywhere.

rachiee

Hi Trickey Mikey lol..

I rescue alot of animals wild and domestic into my home. Recently had a baby duck it was a little mallard. Gorgeous duck he was, we called him Alf Pic at the bottom.. He was fairly clean, quite and inprinted me as mam. What about getting some younger ducks? Sometimes getting them adult is more than enough trouble as they dont know you and tend to run away etc. Getting them young means they see as your as friend rather than a predator. We fed ours meal worms at things like that they loved it. Try hen houses for shelter they are much more practical for ducks and you can just have them in on until they are let out, they learn to go back in when its dusk..

giantmutantbroccoli

Ducks are lovely to keep - I kept Muscovy ducks at my parent's house - but they are much messier than chickens. Chickens will scratch up dirt looking for bugs, but ducks will dig proper holes to get at roots and grubs. Basically just say goodbye to your lawn! Muscovy ducks are different to regular, mallard-type ducks - they're larger (for the most part), have big claws for climbing trees, and they don't quack at all unless really frightened. Instead they hiss and huff, and make a noise a bit like a magpie - so if you're after quieter ducks, they could be your answer. They do need more space though.
We used to feed ours on chicken layers meal and a good mix of scraps, but mostly they found their own food. They eat a lot of protein, and if you don't supply them with enough they'll happily catch their own - ours used to catch and eat frogs, rodents and pretty much anything smaller than themselves.
Housing-wise they do just fine with a little lean-to, although you might want something with 4 walls if the winters get cold. Most importantly they will need a lot of water. Muscovies can get by with a bucket big enough for them to get their head under the water, so they can wash, but other ducks may need a pond if you want them to breed so do check first!
A note of warning - ducklings are not waterproof, but they will throw themselves into water at every available opportunity. If you have/get ducklings you have to make absolutely certain that the water is too shallow for them to drown, and that they can't get into any larger containers of water. They will just keep chucking themselves in! We had a pond in a different part of the garden, and the ducklings got into it - it was pretty horrible, really, we lost 6 ducklings because they just jumped in and sank, and 3 more were revived but had persistent lung probs.

*zippy*

We have two call ducks in with our chickens; they are very funny little characters. Our female is very noisy, but call ducks are meant to be loud They sleep in the coop with the chickens and put themselves to bed unless its tipping down with rain and then they like to sleep in their pond, OH is then out there getting drenched in the pitch black, slipping in all the mud they have made trying to get two half asleep ducks into bed :rotfl:

As lovely as they are we wouldn't have any again because of the mess...they love mud! Chickens are so much easier.