The Poultry Keeper

barncat · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 4

Hi There,

We're setting up for some ducks at home. We've a large garden and have fenced off a roaming / foraging area for the ducks in our kitchen garden - with a House and run inside that. We've a feeder, a poultry water dish thing, a paddling pool and so far thats it.

I wanted to check what else we'l need to feed / house them when we do find some ducks to adopt.

Will they need to have straw to nest on in their house? I assumed so but ...well best to check...

I understand a pellett of some kind is needed especially for layers - can anyone recommed what / how much and how often?

REally looking forward to it now! Just want to make sure we get it right - we don't even have any yet and my four year old is already trying to name them!

Thanks

Emma Smile

james419 · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 5:29 am Post subject:

The main thing is plenty of water, they need it for eating and most importantly they need to be able to get their heads under water to keep their beaks and eyes clean, if you can provide a small pond that would be great but you either need a large mass of water or be able to pump it out and clean- ducks make alot of mess and need quite alot of space to potter about or within a very short time you will have a large mud bath, at the moment we have 3 Chinese geese, 3 mallards and 2 Cayuga + 2 goslings and 2 ducklings, as we are planning to get 4 more ducks the OH had agreed to more lawn becoming duck habitat, this allows them to dig/dabble without destroying the area totally.

They are fascinating to have a round - and the geese make good guard dogs as they make a tremendous row when people approach

Enjoy your ducks but they are addictive

Kitsune · Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 1406 Location: Manchester

I had two ducks for a short period of time (someone's dog killed them one day Sad

) and had a small (4ft x 2ft) cage bottom for them to swim in, it had to be emptied every day when they were first outside, then twice a day as they grew, they were khaki campbells - they used to whistle when I picked them up, they were great Smile

Welsh Duck · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 10:32 am Post subject:

I'm totally addicted to ducks. I use the blue plastic childrens paddling ponds. Wheat straw I find to be the best. They are easy to keep. When choosing pellets I choose the organic ones such as Allan & Page as they don't need additives

debcat · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 3:47 pm Post subject:

in the summer we have one of those turtle shaped childrens sandpits, the upsidedown top works as a pond as well as the bottom - both parts are easy to clean out
in the winter there is that much rain they have made their own shallow ponds in the feild