anyone own ducks?

joshmb1982

Thinking of getting a few of these to put in my pond. Mainly for meat but any eggs I can gather would be a good thing. I'm looking for something that will stick around the pond. would probably need to put some catfish or suckers in the pond to glean it up a bit. There will be other critters in the area such as goats and chickens but they will be in a fenced field.

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/rouen.html


Also what do you do with ducks or geese in the winter time? could I just put a small wading pool or extra bucket in the goat pen with a water heater in it?

BGHillbilly

They don't require much in winter but plenty of food, a source of drinking water, and protection from predators. Swiming water is not needed at all, of course your ducks may need therapy to convince them they are not chickens and restore thier self esteem.

joshmb1982

quote:Originally posted by forgemonkey


joshmb1982

,,,,'Also what do you do with ducks or geese in the winter time?',,,,



Winter Time Duck !!!!!!!!![:D][;)][:D]





thats not just winter time ducks[:D]

would want to butcher all of them anyway. would let a few eggs hatch and have new ducks for next year. Hoping to do the same with my chickens this spring. If one of the hens decides she likes setting Ill see if she can hatch out a dozen eggs or so. Ill mark the hatch lings and when they start laying Ill butcher some of the originals I bought. Plan is to not have to buy more animals every year. Hopefully.

nunn

We have kept ducks on our pond. The coyotes were grateful.

There was even a raft floating in the middle of the pond, so that the ducks did not have to roost on the pond bank, but they would not use it, so they were eaten.

MaxOHMS

We had a few Rouens years ago.

They need water to preen themselves.

Their feet will get tore up out of water also.

joshmb1982

BTT for the evening crowd

diver-rig

quote:Originally posted by joshmb1982

Originally posted by forgemonkey





thats not just winter time ducks[:D]

would want to butcher all of them anyway. would let a few eggs hatch and have new ducks for next year. Hoping to do the same with my chickens this spring. If one of the hens decides she likes setting Ill see if she can hatch out a dozen eggs or so. Ill mark the hatch lings and when they start laying Ill butcher some of the originals I bought. Plan is to not have to buy more animals every year. Hopefully.


You realize that if you want to hatch out more egg layers, that about 75% of the youngins will be roosters, don't ya?

Best bet for hatching out chicken eggs is to go buy an incubator.

Really easy, and fun for the whole family.

rong

Mallards come up from the pond and eat the cracked
corn I feed the chickens.
I always get a kick how they waddle away[:)]

1911a1-fan

Duck eggs are the bomb, huge and much richer than brown eggs, I owned 6 all black ducks, they where smart and of no trouble

Geese on the otherhand are nothing but trouble, not only are they aggressive they will walk a mile to poop on concrete, and they are pooping machines, I think they have a higher output than they do input

SP45

Had white domestic ducks and geese when I was a kid. They always stayed around with the chickens. Had a little swimming hole for them The eggs from both were great.

Jacob2008

quote:Originally posted by 1911a1fan
Duck eggs are the bomb, huge and much richer than brown eggs, I owned 6 all black ducks, they where smart and of no trouble

Geese on the otherhand are nothing but trouble, not only are they aggressive they will walk a mile to poop on concrete, and they are pooping machines, I think they have a higher output than they do input
dude, I know we both live in St. Louis where its typical, but don't discriminate the ducks!

CoolhandLuke

My back yard ends in an 85 acre lake and there are tons of ducks, but I have to be sneaky to cath an butcher ducks, not all but some neighbors are hard core demotard Humaniacs, much worse than dealing with Game warden if caught poaching.

evileye fleagal

my mind fails me now,but if your eating themthe ones with akk the waddle on their head is great. just cant come up with the name, i did it moscovy or muscovy

TrinityScrimshaw

I had three that I couldn't get rid of fast enough. I have over 30 chickens, and those three very messy ducks seemed to crap more then all those chickens put together.[^]

Trinity +++

JasonV

Ducks die easy. Get some geese, they are tough and will run off small predators and zombies.


It is -8 here with a nice wind making it about -30 and my dad just posted on FB that his geese are out in the yard. Tough critters!

barbwired

I like a good Duck!

joshmb1982

quote:Originally posted by JasonV
Ducks die easy. Get some geese, they are tough and will run off small predators and zombies.


It is -8 here with a nice wind making it about -30 and my dad just posted on FB that his geese are out in the yard. Tough critters!


Ive made an agreement with my neighbor not to get geese. The guy that owned my place before me had a few that he let run amuck and they were always over at my neighbors pooping on his patio and chasing his wife. my neighbor shot them and left them on his porch. I like my neighbor and dont want to aggravate him over something stupid like geese. there are reviews on that page from people saying these ducks are fairly friendly and and im hoping that they will stick around my pond in the summer and i could stick them in the goat pen in the winter. Maybe make a 3x3 box 2 feet tall to put next to the goats leanto to put their food in. Id need to order 10 ducks for a minimum but id only plan on keeping 2 or 3. rest would be roasters.

dreher

If you want some to eat get Muscovies. Many years ago I bought a Muscovy drake and 2 hens in real late winter. They set 3 times. The number of ducklings raised went down with each setting. 1st setting was over 20, 2nd about 18, 3rd around 12. With Muscovies you are literally talking 50 raised ducklings per hen. Did this for years with the same results. I did this in extreme NW Ohio. I'm guessing the further south you go the more times the hens will nest. Moscovies do very little flying so they wont be bothering your neighbors. I should add that I did not have a pond.

The funniest thing I ever saw in my life was the result of me switching the eggs between a chicken nest and a duck nest. The duck trying to get her baby chicks into a mud puddle was almost as funny as momma chicken trying to keep her ducklings out of the mud puddle.

Both hens successfully raised "their" babies. A whole lot of human females could have taken lessons from this duck and chicken.

dreher

I should mention that most breeds of ducks fly like WWII fighter pilots. They can really move and aren't above leaving your place permanently to find greener pastures, whereas the Moscovies rarely fly. They are just too heavy, which is why they are good eatters. Very large breasts on the drakes. Pekin ducks are a real good meat breed but aren't broody and will rarely set a nest of eggs successfully. Another good point to the Moscovies is the lack of quacking. The Mallards, Pekins, Calls and most other breeds can quack up a storm and can get very irritating. The Moscovies don't quack they hiss.

The only draw back to the Moscovies would be if you have a predator problem. Lack of flying ability would make them easy pickins for yotes. I am just assuming this as I did not have a predator problem so I'm just guessing on this.

joshmb1982

As far as the flying I'm figuring on having to catch them a few times and clip their wings. also the drakes are 9lb birds so id think their kinda heavy for flying.