Learn me: Ducks

For God's sake don't get any Canada Goose unless you like a lot of crap.

Back when I was in college a wildlife professor got all excited because they finally got some Canada Goose to overwinter on Clark's Hill Reservoir. He was all giggley about it. Now these things are on just about every body of water in the area.

OTOH geese make a good alarm system.

Not good enough for me to put up with some, though.

They remind me of a bunch of snotty, gossipy old ladies. Ducks OTOH, make me smile. I just love them.

Lesley wrote: Whatever you do, don't get geese. They bite your bum when your back's turned.

I was bitten by a nene (fingers, not bum)

I'd direct you to this guy, but he only knows two facts about ducks, and both of them are wrong.

I think you should get Indian Runner Ducks. Saw them at a fall fair one time, and couldn't stop laughing at the poor things. They crack me up.

I think geese brought fois gras onto themselves with their ornery behavior.

They are slow on land and slower in the water, tall and carry lots of people. Usually tourists.

Well thanks for all the input!

From what it looks like no ducks unless its on my plate! While it's always good to keep the "ol lady" happy I think I will find another way. Maybe some day when I am in the dog house deep for oh, like bringing home a 6x6 military jeep or forget our anniversary because I was out at the junkyard and found a Plymouth Style.

Maybe I will buy her a gun or something for our anniversary that way she can learn to shoot a goose that tries to attack her.

But thanks for the candid information... This board is the best!

Living at the shore.. we had plenty of Mallards that were abandoned by their mothers. They are pretty playful and very loyal when you hand raise them.. they are also pretty stupid as said above.

We always let them back to the wild in with flock that spawned them when they got close to being an adult. Aside from one pair that somebody captured, they all survived and carried on breeding, quacking, and doing what ducks do.

I've had many ducks over the years, as well chickens geese and guinea fowl.

Domestic ducks can't escape any predator. They rely on you 100% for all protection. So you've got to shut them up securely at night, every night. Day time your biggest predator is the neighbors dog. In my experience, they are easier prey than even chickens.

Poop. Lots of it. Keep them in an area you don't mind having awash in the stuff.

Dabbling. They love to do it, and will turn the area into a mud bog after the first rain. The larger the area you keep them in, the less devastating the damage. But make no mistake, they dabble like mad.

Noise. Not much. Soft chatter almost continuously, with raucus quacks randomly thrown in.

Breed differences. Almost all are derived from the mallard, and are far more alike than different. Two notable exceptions, the Muscovy and the Runner. The runner is very upright, a fast runner, and fairly high strung. The Muscovy is actually a goose. Virtually silent and very laid back. Looks are rather...unique.

Best way I ever kept ducks was in a secure aviary structure. A wire pen about 30x20x8. Covered on the top. Fence buried about a foot down, 1 foot tall plastic visibility shield, and a very nasty electric fence charger with multiple strands. That worked. They reduced it to a mud bog, and loved it. One kiddie wading pool that they would thoroughly muck up about every day.

Lesley wrote: Ducks!

Fixed that for you

My sister has a lake front home and has wild ducks and sometimes geese come up on her lawn. A number of years ago a female mallard duck started to hang around quite a bit. She was feeding on the droppings that fell from my sisters bird feeder. My sister noticed that she had a damaged beak, the tip was just broken off, not sure how it happened. She started to feed the duck cracked corn in a small bowl. It got so use to her that it would come up on the porch to feed. It also learned that if it came up on the porch and there was no food there she could quack and/or look in the sliding glass doors to get my sisters attention to get some food. This went on for 3-4 years until this past fall when she just stopped coming around. Over the years 2-3 other ducks were brought to my sisters porch by this first duck to feed. Some of them still come for their corn fix from my sister.

These ducks are not afraid of people. I have visited there and while sitting on the porch these ducks would swim up to the shore, walk the 100 ft or so to the porch and then look around for their bowl of corn. You couldn't touch them but they would feed right at your feet as you sat in a chair. .

Duke wrote: All I know from personal experience is **DO NOT** UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES get guinea fowl.

Hahaha my dad talks about how he used to have those when he was a kid. They're loud and aggressive. I do hear they're the next best thing to an actual dog for a guard dog though.

My grandparents had guinea fowl, I spent much of my summers there as a kid. Loud, irritating, but they do caw and caw when something new pulls in the driveway. Also way more protective of their young than any red hen ever thought about being. I actually kinda miss that sound, sitting on the porch, or watching tv with the window open, hearing all the birds outside.

I'm gonna go see my grandma tommorrow, thanks guys!

EDIT: on a side note, my in-laws live right on the edge of the woods, at the edge of Green River Lake State Park actually, and have a terrible tick problem. He was bound and determined to buy some guineas to eat them all up. He then buys two adult guineas, not babies.

My MIL said she watched him take them out of their pen, and $18 walked right into the woods, never to be seen again, hahahaha.

What you really need is a peacock!

We rescued a lone duckling in our pond a couple of years ago and raised her as a pet- her name is Daisy. She swam in the pool with us that summer and eventually had at least 25 babies over the next year or so. predators are really rough on them, in water or out. Here she is swimming with my neice.

In reply to nedc:

Is your pool chlorinated? Would that bother them?

I considered having some ducks or hens when I had 6.5 acres in rural Ohio, but decided against for all the reasons mentioned...maybe some day!

Loyal, friendly ducks that hang out in the pool would be beyond awesome though.

In reply to Flynlow:

Didn't seem to bother her- but her poop did sometimes bother us! She eventually became more 'wild' as she hung around more with other ducks.

Zombie time. I'm thinking about some pet ducks. I have 6 acres, a medium pond about 100 yards and up a hill from the house, and a creek about 15 yards away. I also have a dog and several cats that are indoor/outdoor. My big concern is the predatory cats.

Keep them ducks away from Pelicans! That's all I got.

We have a duck pond in our neighborhood. Every year, we get a surge of new ducks (and Geese) in late summer from people who bought them about now and quickly got tired of them. They either starve because they are not used to fending for themselves, or they get hit by cars because they don't know how to stay out of the road. If you get one, keep the darn thing!

I had a neighbor in my at my old house who got a duck for his kids. They ignored it after a few weeks, so I had to adopt it. It would swim on their pool, and come to my porch to eat. It found some other ducks and flew South for the winters, but would come back to the neighbor's pool every spring. He remembered me and would let me pick him up and feed him lettuce in a bucket of water. Again, if you get one, take care of it!

My father gave my daughter a duckling once. Didn't check with me, just stopped by with a baby duck for a 7 year old. She raised it in our yard until one night something got into the pen (still no idea how) and the duck was gone. We told her it flex up to the duck pond and was happy, but it was a pain to go through. SO, don't get one unless you really want one and can protect it.

Do not underestimate the doo. Ducks are real messy, and will decimate wherever you keep them long-term (grassy pen, the trail between their shed and the nearby pond, etc become bird-poo-paved).

Once you've eaten duck eggs from your own ducks, you'll never go back to chicken eggs from the store.

Guineas are... different. Loud and annoying until you get used to them, and then they're mostly background noise. Great alarm-system animals though. They can fly reasonably well, but not well enough to fly away. Guinea eggs are smaller than chicken eggs, and more flavorful, generally speaking. Dad always thought we could start an exotic bird hunting business with them.