Beginner to keeping ducks

Ding Dong

I have an enclosed run with 3 hens for the past year and now I would like maybe to get 3 or so ducks (in their own run), however I am completely new to ducks, so is there anything in particular that I have to consider before making up my mind to get them in comparison to say the hens I already have?
Are they messy? Will they naturally go back to their house to ‘roost’ in the evenings like hens?
If let out during the day, will they stay close to the house? My house is on an acre so Im hoping they don’t stray too far.
And lastly, to get them used to their new home, how long should I keep them ‘enclosed’ before I can let them out and worry that they’ll just disappear for good as soon as they are let out? Or what do I do in that situation?
Any help is appreciated!!

NextSteps

I had ducks for years, lovely animals. Make sure they always have (at least) a bucket of good clean water, as they need this to keep their bills clean - they need to put their head down into the water.

About the other things, I don't know. I had them in a small back garden!

Ding Dong

Thanks for that? Were they enclosed or were they free to roam? If so were their wings clipped?

Sigma Force

Those plastic kids paddling pools might work well, they're nice and deep but perhaps put something on the side so they can climb out as plastics slippy and perhaps a rock in the middle for them to sit on and rest.

Usually they come in two parts so you get two paddling pools. Plastic is easy to clean and scrub.

Take some pics when you get them, ducks are real characters.

LisaO

I have both ducks & hens, 3 ducks at the moment - Khaki Campbells. Ducks have very different habits to hens but I love them & they are great fun to watch!

Ours all share night-time accommodation & completely free-range during the day - they have around 7 acres in all, including the gardens, yards & fields. I find the chickens stay close to their house, whilst the ducks could be anywhere! They certainly cover a lot of ground during the day. Having said that, they seem to know where the boundaries are & I'm sure they would be perfectly happy with an acre or even less.

A group of ducks wil always stick together & you will hear all about it if one accidently gets separated from the group. Other than that, they are pretty quiet. I can't remember how long we kept them in for when we got them - probably only a day or two. The ducks are always first out & last in but they always put themselves to bed eventually.

They are more messy than hens, as whereas hens scratch the earth with their feet, ducks tend to dig away at soft ground with their bills & will soon turn a puddle or damp patch of ground into a mudbath - so the more room you can give them, the better. Also, ducks eat a more varied diet & find lots of their own food - vegetation, worms, insects, - so their droppings are more liquid & hence more difficult to clean up!

As UB said, they need daily access to at least enough water to duck their heads. We use a rigid plastic paddling pool, with a few rocks arpound the outside so they can get in & out (ducks aren't as agile as hens) & that suits them fine. You will need to keep an eye on any water provided, including drinkers, as ducks will muddy the water repeatedly.

A duck house can be a very simple affair, as ducks don't roost. Just a dog kennel with some sawdust on the floor would be fine. Depending on the base, it may be wise to raise it off the ground to prevent vermin underneath & then provide a small ramp for the ducks to get in & out.

Ducks can fly but ours seem to have have little inclination & don't get very high or very far, so we have never clipped the wings. This might be necessary for other breeds though.

Good luck with your ducks, let us know how you get on.

Ding Dong

Thats great advice guys. Thanks!
I need to do a bit of reading up on the different breeds to see what would best suit me. Once thats decided, where are the different options to buy ducks apart from private and local sellers on buy and sell etc. Are there any websites or companies etc that I could look at over the coming weeks that sell for example over the net?

Dusty87

If its good layers your lookin for you cant go wrong wit khaki cambells as lisao said. There machines to lay. They wont fly away, they can, but they wont leave where there being fed. I often have mine fly from one end of the garden to the other. Although they dont seem like they can go very high. As said they do travel a good bit, more than our hens and wil go all around your yard. Ours never leave our boundary though for some reason. And ducks wont get mite's like chickens as they wash themselves. Or so iv heard. Where are you located? I can pm some numbers for people around midlands if it any good

LisaO

Have a look at:

http://countrytalkandtips.myfreeforum.org

http://www.keepingchickens.ie/

http://www.irishfowl.com/

All good places to ask questions & receive advice & have for sale/wanted sections as well

olaola

Ok - this might be a little off topic, but someone here might know. Just thought - if you're keeping the ducks for eggs, I assume they'd lay an egg about once a day? Why don't the ducks on the canal lay eggs every day? Just curious!

LisaO

Hmm - that's a very interesting question. Khaki Campbells are known as the best layers & do indeed produce an egg per day, without fail. I do know that some other breeds of duck are not such reliable layers & ducks do have a habit of laying in well hidden, inaccessible places. Otherwise you would indeed expect the banks of the canal, parks, etc to be littered with duck eggs. I did find a wild ducks egg once, on the edge of a riverbank & was very surprised as it's not something you would normally see.

MAybe there are some wildlife experts who could enlighten us

olaola

LisaO wrote: »

Hmm - that's a very interesting question. Khaki Campbells are known as the best layers & do indeed produce an egg per day, without fail. I do know that some other breeds of duck are not such reliable layers & ducks do have a habit of laying in well hidden, inaccessible places. Otherwise you would indeed expect the banks of the canal, parks, etc to be littered with duck eggs. I did find a wild ducks egg once, on the edge of a riverbank & was very surprised as it's not something you would normally see.

MAybe there are some wildlife experts who could enlighten us

For all my traisping up and down the canal (up to three times a day!) myself or the dog have never seen, or sniffed out, a duck egg!

ultain

The kids have finally talked us into getting some ducks or chickens..I think ducks might the best move..so I hope I can get some advise here about setting up a pen for them, as in how big they should be and that, we have a fairly large back garden..we'll start with two ducks, see how it goes after that. Another thing, is OK to mix chickens and ducks?

Noreen1

LisaO wrote: »

Hmm - that's a very interesting question. Khaki Campbells are known as the best layers & do indeed produce an egg per day, without fail. I do know that some other breeds of duck are not such reliable layers & ducks do have a habit of laying in well hidden, inaccessible places. Otherwise you would indeed expect the banks of the canal, parks, etc to be littered with duck eggs. I did find a wild ducks egg once, on the edge of a riverbank & was very surprised as it's not something you would normally see.

MAybe there are some wildlife experts who could enlighten us

I'm far from a wildlife expert, but the shortest explanation is that domestic ducks, hens and geese have been bred to lay lots of eggs for generations.
Then consider that (usually) no-one steals a wild ducks eggs, so they have no need to lay as many eggs in order to satisfy their reproductive instincts, and that about sums it up!

Noreen

ultain

ultain wrote: »

The kids have finally talked us into getting some ducks or chickens..I think ducks might the best move..so I hope I can get some advise here about setting up a pen for them, as in how big they should be and that, we have a fairly large back garden..we'll start with two ducks, see how it goes after that. Another thing, is OK to mix chickens and ducks?

Any advise would be appreciated..thanks.

Noreen1

ultain wrote: »

Any advise would be appreciated..thanks.

I'd let them run free range, provided you have secure fencing around the garden.

There is no problem with keeping ducks and hens together. Just make sure you provide water for the ducks. Be careful what kind of pond you provide, though. It doesn't have to be deep, but if it is, make sure the ducks can get out easily. I have heard of someone who managed to drown ducks by providing an old bath to swim in, and neglecting to provide a means of getting out. Poor ducks!

Noreen

ultain

Noreen1 wrote: »

I'd let them run free range, provided you have secure fencing around the garden.

There is no problem with keeping ducks and hens together. Just make sure you provide water for the ducks. Be careful what kind of pond you provide, though. It doesn't have to be deep, but if it is, make sure the ducks can get out easily. I have heard of someone who managed to drown ducks by providing an old bath to swim in, and neglecting to provide a means of getting out. Poor ducks!

Noreen

Ok..thanks for info.

Dee_animallover

Oh I absolutly love ducks

We had them growing up - 2 lived till 15/16 years of age (the white ones) we had about 3/4 of an acre at the back of the house and they used to roam around there, to get them up for bed in the evening all we had to do was shout "C'mon up for bed" (neighbours prob thought we were mad :P) and they would come waddling up.
They were so clever - one would come up to the kitchen window and quack - slowly at first but if you didnt respond he would get louder and louder - looking for food or if the dogs drank their water and needed more!

Hope to get some maybe next year.

P.s they never flew off and their wings werent clipped

ultain

Well the 3 ducks arrived yesterday..they dog headed for the hills when he saw them sprinting down the lawn. All well.. they didn't eat a whole lot at first, made up for it today though:)

Graces7

We had three ducks from a neighbour who had had 27 ducklings hatch and had spent all day delivering the babies to folk.

That night they all homed; so next time we kept them penned for a couple of weeks.

Those there laid only in spring, as wild birds will. Some folk had duck eggs at other seasons by keeping them in lighted sheds.

They are highly intelligent and also have an advanced social awareness/structure.

Ducks could rule the world.

But that was in a different place and at a time I look back fondly at.

Rabbitandcavy

We keep ducks, we have Aylesbury ducks. Great breed! They lay an egg everyday without fail, and they are quite heavy ducks and can't fly or run very fast so they are easy to herd if you need to.

ultain

We had two peeking ducks..up until last night, I arrived out this morning to feed them everything seemed OK..when i got up close i could see one of them had their back opened I could see her spine..thing is it was still moving around but unable to lift it's head, anyway had to bring her to the vet to have her put down:(:( her partner is lost with out her, he also has a cut under his wing but the vet reckons he didn't need a jab. So basically I'm posting here wondering if anyone would like to take him on..as I'm sure he would be happy with other ducks. I have no idea what could have killed her..vet reckons could well have been a mink.
I'm in Galway, Clifden direction.

jjjade

aw Ultain that is really sad im sorry about that i would take him in a heart beat but can barely keep a cat in my current home never mind a duck

didnt you say u had 3 ducks, what happened to the other one... did he just wander of?

barfletcher

Hi all,

We have 6 hens for the last few months and got 3 x ducks this morning.

3 x Aylesbury ducks (male and female) and another female duck (forgot to ask what variety it is)

Anyway, as we have a female and a drake Aylesbury, I presume they will breed but was wondering if there's a season or will conditions rule whether they breed or not?

Barry

The Paws

I never had ducks but I will one fine day!
what other type of ducks to you all keep? The aylesbury ducks would be my ideal pets.

Any good books on ducks? ( I love books!)

Rabbitandcavy

Does anyone know how long the Aylesbury's live for? (the big fat, table ducks with orange beaks). I can't find an answer anywhere on the internet!