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REV127 | 04-20-2007 11:31 AM
Ducks I initially bought two ducks back around December for evaluation purposes, a male and a female. When they got enough size on them I put them outside in the second chicken tractor I'd ever built. It had a design flaw the female utilized to escape shortly after being placed outside and she didn't survive the night. Since then the male duck has lived as a chicken and been accepted into the flock, his best friend is the big Rhode Island Red rooster. Well I've had to use this flawed chicken tractor to isolate the rooster after he got some frostbite and then hens were irritating it because the birds have a tendency to pick at whatever sticks out, a grooming behaviour gone awry. To make a long story short that design flaw was exploited by a raccoon a couple nights ago to get inside the enclosure with the rooster, duck and a young Ameraucana hen. The rooster and the duck kicked the raccoon's ass. I heard the commotion and when I got out there it was like some kind of weird version of the Thunderdome with the coon frantically trying to find its way out. This has helped soften my inital view of ducks which was kind of harsh. They are messy and a little wasteful of food and water but it ends up they aren't so hard to care for once you start adjusting to their needs. They don't seem quite as bright as the chickens but they have a few advantages like being waterproof and mosquito proof. The duck who thinks he's a rooster does a pretty good job helping protect the flock from outside threats. Ducks fight kind of weird, by hitting with their wings. He struck me once when he got scared that I was picking him up off the ground and I've got to say there was a lot more force there then you might expect. Overall I don't think the duck is as good of a fighter as a rooster but the two seem to work well together, the duck confuses and dazes the attacker with his flapping wing attack while the rooster goes to work with his spurs and beak. Unfortunately these guys wouldn't be much use against a medium sized dog or similar unless there were a lot of roosters and ducks on the defending team but the two of them are a match for a cat or raccoon sized threat. So far the chickens are working out well but if for some reason I ever had to start over I would seriously consider a duck-centric flock with a few roosters to help protect it. In addition to the other two advantages mentioned earlier the ducks also gained size and weight very quickly and with no large combs are less effected by frostbite. If you have a way to store the meat you could offset the feed consumption by slaughtering them early and putting up the meat. The ducks will forage and graze too, which helps. With the loss of the female I can't really comment on broodiness or egg production though others seem to have good results. Personality-wise the duck isn't quite the same as the chickens who can act almost like puppies sometimes but he's pretty tame and often enjoys getting petted. One strange quirk is that though my duck is a flying mallard he is so closely integrated with the chickens that he never tries to fly, even when I occasionally have to chase him. The only time I've seen him use his power of flight was when I had been petting him and the chickens moved off about 15 yards. When I set him down he immediately took to flight to rejoin his flock. He's seen the chickens do their short range jumps so I guess he imitates that, he's just much, much better at it without realizing his ability! I might be interested in expanding my duck operation at some point.

stranger | 04-20-2007 01:32 PM
Re: Ducks Got a dozen Rouen mallards on my pond and they do quite well with minimal care. They mostly forage for their own food, with my wife feeding them only once on a while. Heavy and relatively flightless,(not more than a few feet high and a hundred yards or so), they stay year round and tolerated the few weeks of below freezing temps we had with no ill effects. They began to lay late last spring, eight to twelve eggs in each box, but something got into the nests and ate every egg. Got new boxes built this year, out in the water. Maybe that'll ameliorate the problems I had last year. One real positive aspect I've experienced from having the ducks is that I DO NOT see snakes around my pond anymore. We had seen them kill small snakes right after we put them out there, but since last summer, I haven't spotted a single one. The pond is around two acres when full and maybe 50-75 feet outside my bedroom windows so I'm down there all the time. Also have wild pigeons roosing and raising inside my pheasant pen. Got three nests, two eggs each, and one nest that hatched a pair two days ago. My pheasant female just started laying, 4 eggs so far, and I'm excited to see what she'll do.

Darkside | 04-20-2007 03:55 PM
Re: Ducks I prefer Ostriches for defense. Now those guys can fight!

Maddie | 04-20-2007 04:00 PM
Re: Ducks We had a pair of geese once. When the female died, the male became one of the sneakiest, meanest creatures I've known. He knew what time we got home, and would hide in the bushes beside the driveway, then leap out, squawking and flapping and aiming for your head. (I think he was yelling, "Airborne! Death from above!" in goose-speak.) His "bites" would leave bruises the size of silver dollars. He completely took over the chicken flock and wouldn't let the roosters anywhere near the hens! We finally gave him to someone who had a pond full of geese. If he couldn't find happiness there, well, at least the other geese could probably hold their own against him.

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